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U  JQtM.  CALIFORNIA 


X8i( 


JAS.  P.  BOYD,  A.  M. 


Vital  Questions 

of  the 


OR   HISTORIC  AND   ECONOMIC  REVIEWS  OF 

The  Issues 
of  Labor; 

Doctrines  of  Free-  Trade  and  Protection  ;  Tariff  Legislation  ;  The  Silver 
Question,  and  American  Reciprocity  ; 

Political  Revolution  of  1892  ; 
Industrial  and  Commercial  Panic  of  '93  ^'94; 

Coxey's  Crusade; 
The  Pullman  Boycott  and  Railroad  Strike; 

and 

The  Wilson  Tariff  Bill, 

Together  -with  a  National  Portrait  Gallery  of  Labor  Leaders 
and  Statesmen  of  all  Parties. 

By  James  P.  Boyd,  A.  M., 

Author  of  Lives  of  Grant,  Sherman,  Sheridan,  Blaine, 
History  of  the  Crusades,  etc.,  etc. 

PUBLISHERS'  UNION, 
1894. 


Copyrighted,  1894, 

by 
JAS.  P.  BOYD,  A.  M. 


INTRODUCTORY. 


THERE  never  was  a  time  in  the  history  of  this  great  Re- 
public when  agitation  extended  further  and  covered  so  many 
vital  questions.  It  seems  to  be  an  era  of  mental  unrest,  in 
which  every  subject  is  made  to  pass  the  ordeal  of  fresh  in- 
quiry, and  much  that  was  old  and  settled  is  either  repu- 
diated entirely  or  dragged  into  the  arena  of  debate  to  be 
overhauled  and  modernized. 

Some  deprecate  such  an  era  and  such  a  tendency,  espe- 
cially in  a  Republic  whose  youth  permits  a  freedom  that 
mav  be  taken  advantage  of  by  its  dangerous  elements,  and 
whose  laws  are  so  framed  as  to  provide  the  fewest  number 
of  counter-checks  to  agitation.  But  there  is  really  no  cause 
for  alarm.  Indeed,  we  are  optimistic  enough  to  believe  that 
agitation,  even  in  the  many  peculiar  forms  it  has  for  the 
present  assumed,  is  a  source  of  safety  rather  than  danger. 
Under  any  system  of  government  there  must  come  periods 
of  dissatisfaction  and  unrest,  else  there  could  be  no  pro- 
gress. Ebullition  is  a  way  nature  has  of  purifying  and  re- 
constructing herself.  Man  is  but  nature,  in  the  respect  that 
when  the  forces  which  drive  him  into  a  social  or  political 
state,  and  operate  to  keep  him  there,  have  begun  to  chafe, 
disappoint  or  tire,  there  should  be  an  attempt  at  re-adjust- 
ment, either  of  the  force  to  the  man,  or  the  man  to  the 
force. 

And  in  no  field  can  this  take  place  so  swiftly  and  effect- 
to) 


6  INTRODUCTORY. 

ively  as  in  a  Republic.  The  very  freedom  allowed  to  in- 
quiry, to  agitation,  or  even  to  that  license  of  dispute  which 
is  too  often  inseparable  from  folly,  frenzy  or  something 
worse,  is  in  itself  a  safeguard,  for  the  waters  that  are  carried 
away  by  free  flow,  or  are  allowed  to  spread  out  into  harm- 
less shallows,  are  not  the  dangerous  waters,  but  those 
which  are  pent  up  behind  barriers  subject  to  sudden  break- 
age by  wind-gusts  or  to  secret  undermining  by  sullen  depths. 
The  cause  that  finds  a  nest  in  a  single  brain,  or  a  spot  for 
incubation  in  a  society,  may  prove  to  be  no  cause  at  all  once 
it  is  at  large  and  fair  game  for  the  arrows  of  outer  inquiry. 
There  is  nothing  risked  by  the  assertion  that  a  far  greater 
number  of  incipient  revolutions  die  by  simple  contact  with 
larger  ideas  than  by  the  strong  arm  of  the  law. 

This,  however,  is  saying  but  little  other  than  that  the 
American  people  as  a  community,  and  by  virtue  of  their 
intelligence  and  patriotism,  are  to  be  trusted  to  solve  their 
own  problems,  no  matter  how  intricate  or  curiously  pre- 
sented. This  is  in  strict  accord  with  the  spirit  of  our  in- 
stitutions, and,  as  a  rule,  the  people  have  not  shirked  their 
responsibility.  They  have  entered  campaigns  with  zeal, 
have  spoken  with  fire,  have  read  with  industry,  have  voted 
as  they  willed,  have  accepted  verdicts  cheerfully  where 
they  were  emphatic. 

Equally,  the  people  have  been  prompt  to  correct  their 
own  misjudgment.  They  are  doing  it  now.  The  present 
era  of  ferment  is  in  one  sense  a  confession  of  error,  in 
another  sense  a  getting  ready  to  do  what  seems  to  lead 
to  betterment  of  conditions.  It  is  a  campaign  between 
campaigns — a  perpetual  inquiry,  a  constant  agitation,  a 
continuous  mooting  of  the  theories  of  government,  of 
social  problems,  of  industrial  questions,  of  commercial 
principles,  and  even  of  moral  regulations.  Say  not  that 


INTRODUCTORY.  7 

the  people  are  indiscreet  in  thus  agitating  what  concerns 
them  most.  They  have  been  driven  to  it,  perhaps  by  their 
own  folly,  perhaps  by  unsuspicious  acquiescence,  perhaps 
by  deliberate  imposition.  Say  not  that  even  the  manner 
of  agitation  is  wrong.  It  is  only  such  as  it  can  be,  confused 
where  aims  are  not  clear,  assertive  where  convictions  are 
strong,  tyinnical  where  organization  is  complete,  grotesque 
where  assumption  is  wild,  incendiary  only  when  absurdity 
leaps  its  narrow  boundaries. 

It  is  not  the  object  of  this  work  to  settle  any  one  ques- 
tion of  the  day  for  any  one  mind.  That  would  be  a  hope- 
less task.  But  since  the  people  have  taken  so  largely  to 
themselves  the  discussion  and  solution  of  that  which  con- 
cerns their  home,  family,  labor,  food,  raiment,  education, 
money,  personal  rights,  economy,  and  morals,  the  author 
of  the  work  has  thought  that  he  could  help  those  of  read- 
ing habit  or  inquiring  turn  by  a  reasonably  full  and  fair 
presentation  of  the  many  questions  that  enter  into  the 
agitations  and  comprise  the  issues  of  the  times. 

He  enters  on  his  work  all  the  more  heartily  because  of  a 
supreme  confidence  in  the  scholars  now  to  be  found  in  the 
American  schools  of  practical  life.  These  scholars  are 
the  toiling,  thinking  million,  anxious  and  able  to  grasp 
what  concerns  them,  and  to  lift  themselves  to  higher  estate. 
It  is  no  argument  against  all  that  a  few  are  unwise.  It  is 
no  discouragement  to  a  writer  or  teacher  that  some  refuse 
to  learn.  The  fact  cannot  be  gainsaid  that  the  spirit  of 
inquiry  is  abroad  as  it  never  was  before.  The  era  of  unrest 
is  fully  upon  us.  The  meaning  of  it  all  is  that  more  than 
has  hitherto  been  given  is  demanded ;  that  less  shall  be 
taken  for  granted  than  heretofore. 

No  problem  of  the  hour,  no  issue  of  the  day,  is  entirely 
independent  of  every  other.  Many  of  them  spring  from 


8  INTRODUCTORY. 

a  common  source,  and  most  of  them  are  interwoven  like 
the  fabrics  of  the  loom.  Hence  the  folly  of  supporting 
one  by  striking  at  another  nearly  akin  to  it.  Hence  the 
danger  of  building  up  one  on  the  ruin  of  another.  Noth- 
ing of  value  exists  without  reason.  Nothing  of  value  can 
be  permanently  overturned  or  beneficially  changed  without 
reason.  Therefore,  in  espousing  a  cause,  shaping  an  issue, 
or  seeking  a  result,  it  is  most  important  to  know  what  other 
interests  are  affected,  and  how  far  you  can  antagonize 
them  without  endangering  your  own.  It  is  easy  to  find 
in  this  work  a  review  of  those  issues  which  bear  on  each 
other,  whose  discussion  requires  the  recognition  of  others, 
whose  successful  solution  demands  the  preservation  of 
others. 

No  agitation,  however  confined  to  the  surface,  ought  to 
be  ignored.  But  to  be  commended  it  ought  to  strike  below 
the  surface.  To  be  effective  it  must  rise  from  serious 
depths.  It  must  break  strata  and  give  new  form  to  things. 
But  its  directive  energy  should  never  be  at  fault.  It  should 
be  as  intelligent  to  create  as  it  is  desirous  to  destroy. 
Hence,  we  conceive  that  a  work  of  this  kind,  and  at  this 
time  may  have  a  value  far  beyond  books  wedded  to  a  single 
idea  or  a  particular  theory.  It  is  not  a  book  of  advocacy, 
but  a  work  of  presentation.  Its  limit  is  to  living  issues,  or 
to  those  things  which  men  are  struggling  for  in  thought 
and  hoping  for  in  heart.  Considering  existing  conditions, 
whatever  their  form,  there  is  nothing  so  close  to  the  com- 
mon mind  and  to  the  universal  welfare  as  the  subjects  con- 
tained in  this  volume.  They  are  all  such  as  the  people 
themselves  have  made  for  the  author,  not  such  as  the 
author  may  have  selected  for  the  people.  The  volume  is 
far  more  the  book  of  the  American  masses,  looking  toward 
light,  striving  for  betterment,  than  the  work  of  one  seeking 


INTRODUCTORY.  9 

the  fatherhood  of  pet  doctrines  or  the  exhibition  of  indi- 
vidual fancies. 

Fulness  commensurate  with  the  space  at  command  has 
been  sought.  Frankness  has  been  a  constant  aim.  Dis- 
putation has  been  ignored.  The  historic  method  has  been 
preferred.  There  is  no  issue  without  two  or  more  sides. 
The  sides  are  here  given  in  calm  review.  The  period  is 
one  of  campaign,  but  not  of  passion ;  one  of  ferment,  but 
not  of  revolution,  at  least  not  necessarily;  or  if  so,  of 
peaceful  revolution.  In  a  word,  the  author  has  striven 
to  send  forth  an  educative  medium,  agreeable  to  consult, 
safe  to  rely  on,  no  matter  what  may  be  the  preconceived 
notions  of  the  reader.  Of  the  timeliness  of  such  a  work 
there  can  be  no  manner  of  doubt.  The  issues  here  in- 
volved are  pressing;  so  pressing,  indeed,  as  to  defy  the  tra- 
dition of  political  parties,  to  threaten  peace  and  prosperity, 
and  to  demand  such  attention  from  legislators  as  they  have 
been  all  too  tardy  to  give.  The  more  active  the  spirit  of 
unrest,  which  is  hardly  else  than  the  spirit  of  inquiry,  the 
more  promptly  it  should  be  met  with  the  spirit  of  intelli- 
gence. Light  diffused  through  a  dark  or  confused  situa- 
tion is  the  most  welcome  light.  It  may  dazzle  at  first, 
but  it  will  be  cheered  in  the  end.  We  are  all  history 
makers,  as  well  as  makers  of  our  individual  and  aggregate 
welfares.  It  is  the  part  of  unwisdom  to  hew  and  frame  and 
build  in  darkness. 

Fortunately  for  the  author,  the  publisher  has  come  to 
his  rescue  with  a  beauty  and  wealth  of  illustration  which 
adds  greatly  to  the  charm  and  value  of  the  book.  The 
most  notable  public  men  of  the  day  are  presented  in  living 
likeness  within  the  compass  of  the  volume,  thus  supple- 
menting issues  with  champions  and  opponents,  intensifying 
the  interest  of  readers,  and  identifying  argument  with 


io  INTRODUCTORY. 

personality.  This  pleasing  and  instructive  feature,  will  be 
found  as  agreeable  in  a  work  of  this  kind,  and  quite  as 
much  a  part  of  its  merits,  as  the  elaborate  art  which  is 
relied  upon  to  commend  volumes  which  are  wholly  descrip- 
tive, or  whose  popularity  depends  on  the  picturesque  alone. 


CONTKNTS. 


i. 

THE  LABOR  ISSUES. 

NUMBER  AND  SHAPE  OF  ISSUES — MOOD  OF  LABOR — LABOR  A  STAPLE— 
THEORY  OF  WAGES— THE  LABOR  UNIONS— NATIONAL  ORGANIZA- 
TIONS— TRUE  MISSION  OF  THE  UNIONS — DANGERS  OF  UNIONISM — 
THE  WEAPON  OF  THE  "STRIKE" — OPINIONS  OF  ECONOMISTS — 
LEADERS  AND  AGITATORS — POWER  OF  INDIVIDUAL  MERIT — PER- 
SONAL INDEPENDENCE — THE  STRIKE  OF  1886 — LOSSES  AND  GAINS 
— NATURE  OF  THE  "  BOYCOTT  " — COMPARATIVE  STRENGTH  OF 
ORGANIZED  AND  UNORGANIZED  LABOR — THE  "SCAB"  and  "  BLACK- 
LEG"— UNIONISM  AND  SOCIALISM— MINERS  STRIKE  OF  1894 — THE 
AUSTRALIAN  STRIKE  OF  1892 — THE  SYSTEM  OF  APPRENTICESHIP — 
TRADES-SCHOOLS — WHAT  SOCIALISM  is — GENERAL  AND  NATIONAL 
SOCIALISM — BELLAMY'S  VIEWS — IMPORT  OF  COXEYISM — SIGNIFI- 
CANCE OF  THE  STRIKES — PEACEFUL  REVOLUTION — THE  MODERN 
BABEL — SOCIALISM  AND  ANARCHISM — GOVERNMENT  TUTELAGE  OF 
LABOR — COMPULSORY  ARBITRATION — STATE  ARBITRATION— VOL- 
UNTARY ARBITRATION — CONCILIATORS  AND  CONFERENCES — PRIN- 
CIPLE OF  CO-OPERATION — TRUE  RELATIONS  OF  EMPLOYERS  TO 
EMPLOYEES — CHANGES  FROM  OLD  TO  NEW  RELATIONS — PROFIT 
SHARING — THE  FRENCH  EXPERIMENT  —  PROFIT  SHARING  IN 
EUROPE — EXPERIMENTS  IN  AMERICA — USES  OF  CAPITAL — THE 
REAL  WORTH  OF  MUSCLE — VIEWS  OF  HENRY  WOOD — EDUCA- 
TION OF  WAGE-WORKERS — FIELDS  FOR  OPPORTUNITY — COMPETI- 
TION IN  WAGES — ECONOMIC  CONFIDENCE — RISE  op  WAGE-WORK- 
ERS— SUCCESSES  IN  BUSINESS  .  t  ,  f  ,  ,  .  .21 


12  CONTENTS. 

II. 

THE  DOCTRINE  OF    FREE-TRADE. 

DEFINITION  OF  FREE-TRADE — PRINCIPLE  OF  A  TARIFF — EARLY  FREE- 
TRADERS— TARIFF  FOR  REVENUE — TARIFF  REFORM — POLITICS 
CONFUSES  TERMS — THE  ENGLISH  IDEA — OLD  AND  NEW  THEO- 
RIES— LAW  AS  TO  CAPITAL — As  TO  LABOR — PRODUCTIVENESS 
AND  LABOR — INCREASED  PRICE — DOCTRINE  OF  "  LAISSEZ  FAIRE  " 
— PROTECTION  INIQUITOUS  —  CLASS  TAXATION  —  DIMINISHED 
LABOR — WRONG  OF  THE  CUSTOM  HOUSE — DIVISION  OF  LABOR 
— AGGREGATE  OF  LABOR — DIVERSIFIED  INDUSTRY  —  PRODUCE 
FOR  PRODUCE — VALUE  OF  FREE  COMPETITION — FACILITY  OF 
EXCHANGES — DIMINUTION  OF  LABOR — CAPITAL  AND  EMPLOY- 
MENT— INDEPENDENCE  OF  FOREIGNERS — FREE-TRADE  IN  POLI- 
TICS— TARIFF  A  TAX — MONOPOLIES  AND  TRUSTS — VIEWS  OF 
GLADSTONE  AND  PATRICK  HENRY — PROTECTION  INVOKES  WARS 
— ENGLAND  REPUDIATED  HER  OWN  PROTECTION  LAWS — 
REACHES  FREE-TRADE — VIEWS  OF  WELLS,  TAUSSIG,  ROBERT 
PEEL,  JACKSON,  ROWAN,  DALLAS  —  PROTECTION  LEADS  TO 
SMUGGLING — COMPARISON  OF  FREE-TRADE  AND  PROTECTION 
ERAS — VIEWS  OF  BUCHANAN,  LLOYD,  GARFIELD — SMITH — FREE- 
TRADE  ERA  OF  1850  TO  1860  ONE  OF  PROSPERITY  .  .  .69 

III. 

DOCTRINE  OF   PROTECTION. 

PRINCIPLE  NOT  IN  DOUBT — PRACTICED  BY  ALL  NATIONS — NECES- 
SARY TO  COMMERCIAL  SUPREMACY — FOR  INDUSTRIAL  AND 
MANUFACTURING  INDEPENDENCE — PROTECTION  UNITES  ART  AND 
NATURE — PROTECTIVE  AND  REVENUE  TARIFFS — REVENUE  DU- 
TIES FALL  ON  NECESSARIES — PROTECTIVE  DUTIES  FALL  ON 
COMPETITIVE  ARTICLES — RATE  AND  ADJUSTMENT  OF  PROTECTIVE 
DUTIES — PROHIBITORY  RATES — ESSENCE  OF  LABOR  IN  PRO- 
DUCTS— PER  CENT.  OF  LABOR — APPLICATION  OF  PROTECTION 
TO  LABOR — EFFECT  OF  PROTECTION  ON  LABOR — PROTECTION 
DOES  NOT  INCREASE  COST  TO  CONSUMER,— COMPETITION  REGU- 
LATES COST — ENCOURAGEMENT  TO  CAPITAL — To  INVENTION — 
MORE  AND  BETTER  GOODS — TARIFF  FOR  PROTECTION  NOT  A 
TAX — PRODUCERS  PAY  THE  DUTY — SENTIMENT  IN  BRADFORD—, 


CONTENTS.  13 

OPINIONS  OF  LIST,  SMITH,  MILL — ADVANTAGE  OF  PROTECTION 
TO  AGRICULTURAL  COMMUNITIES — "THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM" — 
OPINIONS  OF  WASHINGTON,  MADISON,  JEFFERSON,  TAUSSIG — 
AMERICAN  CONDITIONS — EUROPEAN  CONDITIONS — PROTECTION 
CURES  MONOPOLY — GIVES  COMPETING  POWER  ABROAD — REVE- 
NUE TARIFF  A  TAX — DOCTRINE  OF  NATURAL  RIGHT — DUTY  OF 
DEVELOPMENT — USE  OF  NATURAL  GIFTS — OUR  OWN  ECONOM- 
ICS —  ABSOLUTE  CHEAPNESS  NOT  DESIRABLE  —  PROTECTION 
DOES  NOT  TEND  TO  OVERPRODUCTION — PROTECTION  SINCE  1861 
— CAREY'S  DEDUCTIONS  —  USES  TO  FARMERS — FREE  "  RAW 
MATERIAL  "  —  PROTECTION  NOT  FOR  PRIVILEGED  CLASSES — 
DOES  NOT  CONTRIBUTE  TO  GREAT  FORTUNES — NOR  TO  TRUSTS 
— TENDS  TO  FAIRER  PROFITS — OUR  MATERIAL  GROWTH  .  .  96 

IV. 

OUR  TARIFF   LEGISLATION. 

ENGLISH  COLONIAL  SYSTEM  —  THE  CONFEDERATION  AND  FREE- 
TRADE — THE  CONSTITUTION  AND  IMPOSTS — TARIFF  ACT  OF 
1789 — PROTECTIVE  ERA — EMBARGO  AND  TARIFF  OF  1812 — 
HIGH  PROTECTIVE  ERA — ACT  OF  1816 — DISASTERS  OF  1817-19 
— ACT  OF  1824  AND  THE  "AMERICAN  SYSTEM" — ATTITUDE  OF 
PARTIES — ACT  OF  1828 — HOSTILITY  TO  IT  AND  COMPROMISE 
ACT  OF  1833 — NULLIFICATION— PANIC  OF  1837— PROTECTIVE 
RATES  OF  1842 — REPEALING  ACT  OF  1846 — EFFECT  OF  MEXI- 
CAN WAR,  DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD,  FOREIGN  WARS  AND  FAMINES 
— TARIFF  ACT  OF  1857 — PANIC  OF  1857 — PROTECTIVE  ACT  OF 
1861 — EFFECT  OF  CIVIL  WAR — PANIC  OF  1873  AND  ACT  OF 
1874 — THE  TARIFF  COMMISSION  AND  TARIFF  OF  1883 — THE 
MORRISON  BILL — THE  MILLS  BILL — TARIFF  ACT  OF  1890 — 
POLICY  OF  RECIPROCITY — TARIFF  LEGISLATION  IN  1892 — TARIFF 
SENTIMENT  ABROAD — LORD  SALISBURY'S  VIEWS — TARIFF  FIG- 
URES ......  124 

V. 

THE   SILVER   QUESTION. 

IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  QUESTION,  "WHAT  is  MONEY? — KINDS  OF 
MONEY— MONEY  VALUES — MONEY  SYSTEMS— AMERICAN  C<JIN- 


14  CONTENTS. 

AGE — FIRST  COINAGE  ACT — GOLD  AND  SILVER  VALUES — REA- 
SONS FOR  A  CHANGE — COINAGE  ACT  OF  1834 — MISTAKEN  RA- 
TIOS— SILVER  MONOMETALLIZED — "  GRESHAM'S  LAW" — "MINT 
ACT  "  OF  1837 — COINAGE  ACT  OF  1849 — EFFECTS  OF  THE  DIS- 
COVERY OF  GOLD — ALARM  OF  THE  COMMERCIAL  WORLD — OUR 
"  LEGAL  TENDER  ACTS  " — RESUMPTION  OF  THE  COINAGE  ACT 
OF  1873 — SILVER  DEMONETIZED — THE  "  TRADE  DOLLAR  "  OF 
1876— EXTENT  OF  COINAGE  TO  1878 — COINAGE  ACT  OF  1878 — 
FREE  AND  UNLIMITED  COINAGE  SYSTEM — RESTORATION  OF  THE 
SILVER  DOLLAR — COINAGE  ACT  OF  1890 — WHAT  IT  DID — THE 
PROPOSED  FREE  COINAGE  ACT  OF  1892— WHAT  IT  SEEKS — 
COMPARED  WITH  OTHER  ACTS— MINT  FIGURES — How  TO  FIGURE 
SILVER  RATIOS  AND  VALUES  .  .  .  .  .  .  .198 

VI. 

RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

GENERAL  VIEW  OF  RECIPROCITY — COMMERCIAL  TREATIES — "MOST 
FAVORED  NATION"  CLAUSE — RECIPROCITY  AND  THE  AMERICAN 
REPUBLICS — MODERN  COMMERCIAL  ERA — ESCAPE  FROM  EU- 
ROPEAN DOMINION — THE  "  MONROE  DOCTRINE  " — PROPHECY  OF 
JOHN  ADAMS — THE  INTERNATIONAL  CONFERENCE — REPORT  ON 
RECIPROCITY — ELAINE'S  REVIEW  AND  RECOMMENDATION — RECI- 
PROCITY AND  TARIFF  ACT  OF  1890 — SECOND  STAGE  OF  RECI- 
PROCITY— ACCEPTANCE  BY  FOREIGN  NATIONS — EFFECT  UPON 
COMMERCIAL  RELATIONS — GENERAL  VIEW  OF  ITS  OPERATIONS  .  261 

VII. 

REVOLUTION  OF  1892. 

THE  POLITICAL  SITUATION — FREEDOM  FROM  DOUBTS — THE  DRIFT  OF 
PARTIES — SHAPING  OF  THE  TARIFF  ISSUE — THE  CELEBRATED  MES- 
SAGE OF  1887 — ATTITUDE  OF  DEMOCRACY — BATTLES  FOR  TARIFF 
REFORM — THE  REPUBLICANS  AND  TARIFF  ACT  OF  1890 — ELEC- 
TIONSOF  1890 — SURPRISING  RESULTS — ISSUES  FOR  1892 — VIEWS  OF 
GREAT  STATESMEN — A  FINAL  CAMPAIGN  FOR  TARIFF  REFORM — 
FREE  COINAGE  AND  THE  FORCE  BILL—  THE  HARRISON  ADMINIS- 
TRATION— REPUBLICAN.  CONVENTION  AFP  PLATFORM— DEMO. 


CONTENTS.  IS 

CRATIC  CONVENTION  AND  PLATFORM— POPULISM,  THE  NEW  POLIT- 
ICAL FACTOR — THE  NOMINEES — LETTERS  OF  ACCEPTANCE — ISSUES 
SQUARELY  DRAWN — THE  CAMPAIGN — THE  ERA  OF  ALLIANCES — 
CONFIDENCE  OF  PARTIES — THE  CRUCIAL  DAY — ASTOUNDING  RE- 
SULTS— COMPLETENESS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION — THE  COUNTER- 
REVOLUTION OF  1893-94 — NATURE  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  RE- 
ACTION— CAUSES  OF  CHANGED  SENTIMENT 342 

VIII. 

THE  COMMERCIAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  CRISIS. 
PRESIDENT  HARRISON'S  LAST  MESSAGE — His  REVIEW  OF  THE  NA- 
TION— CONTRASTS  OF  GROWTH  AND  PROSPERITY — PRESIDENT 
CLEVELAND'S  INAUGURAL — POWER  UNDER  FLATTERING  AUSPICES 
— MAPPING  His  ADMINISTRATION — RECALL  OF  THE  HAWAIIAN 
TREATY — A  THRILL  OF  DISAPPOINTMENT — HEART-BURNINGS  AND 
MUTTERINGS — GATHERING  CLOUDS — THE  PEOPLE  AFRAID  OF  THE 
FUTURE — DID  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1892  MEAN  CHAOS  ? — DEMAND 
FOR  A  MONETARY  POLICY  BY  THE  MONEY  CENTRES — FAILURE  TO 
FORMULATE  ONE — SINKING  OF  THE  GOLD  RESERVE — A  THREAT 
TO  REDEEM  WITH  SILVER — ALARM  AMONG  BANKS  AND  CAPITAL- 
ISTS— SHRINKING  OF  CREDITS — FAILURE  OF  BANKS — WIDE- 
SPREAD DEMORALIZATION — COMMERCIAL  CRISIS  FULLY  ON — CALL 
OF  AN  EXTRA  SESSION  OF  CONGRESS — REPEAL  OF  THE  SHERMAN 
COINAGE  ACT — TEMPORARY  RELIEF— PARALYSIS  OF  INDUSTRIAL 
ENERGY — DREAD  OF  TARIFF  CHANGES — CLOSING  OF  SHOPS  AND 
FACTORIES — CUTTING  WAGES  AND  DISCHARGING  HELP  .  .  374 

IX. 

THE  COXEY  CRUSADE. 

"THE  COMMONWEAL  OF  CHRIST" — COXEYISM  AND  CHARTISM — THE 
"  PETITION  IN  BOOTS" — SPIRIT  OF  COXEYISM — SENTIMENT  REP- 
RESENTED— THE  "  GOOD  ROADS"  IDEA — THE  ISSUE  OF  BONDS 
— MEETING  OF  COXEY  AND  BROWNE — JOINING  FORCES  AND  OB- 
JECTS— RECRUITING  THE  ARMIES — CAMP  DISCIPLINE — ANALYSIS 
OF  RANDALL'S  ARMY — GRAND  MARCH  FROM  MASSII.LON — ARRI- 
VAL AT  WASHINGTON — ARRF.ST  AND  IMPRISONMENT  OF  LEADERS — 
GENERAL  HOWARD'S  REVIEW  OF  COXEYISM — VIEWS  OF  OTHER 
WRITERS — SYMPATHY  OF  THE  POPULIST  SENATORS  AND  REPRE- 
SENTATIVES— SENATOR  ALLEN'S  STAND 390 


i6  CONTENTS. 

X. 

THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT. 

PRESIDENT  DEBS — THE  AMERICAN  RAILWAY  UNION — THE  GREAT 
STRIKE  OF  JUNE,  1894 — ORIGIN  OF  THE  STRIKE — THE  PULLMAN 
CAR  COMPANY — BATTLE  BETWEEN  THE  COMPANY  AND  ITS  EM- 
PLOYEES— THE  A.  R.  U.  TAKES  UP  THE  BATTLE — A  BLOW  AT 
THE  RAILROADS — ORGANIZATION  AGAINST  ORGANIZATION — LIFE 
AND  DEATH  STRUGGLE — ORDERS  TO  TIE  UP  THE  RAILROADS — 
PARALYSIS  OF  TRANSPORTATION — BLOCKADES  AND  HARDSHIPS — 
RIOTS,  ARSON  AND  MURDERS — CALLS  FOR  TROOPS — INTERFER- 
ENCE OF  THE  GENERAL  GOVERNMENT — DEFIANCE  OF  COURTS  AND 
MARSHALS — INTERFERENCE  WITH  MAILS — SYMPATHY  OF  LOCAL 
AUTHORITIES — REGULAR  ARMY  SENT  TO  SCENE — STRIKE  BE- 
COMES ANARCHY  AND  REBELLION — PRESIDENT'S  PROCLAMATION 
— SYMPATHY  STRIKE  OF  KNIGHTS  OF  LABOR — FAILURE  TO 
RESPOND — BACKBONE  OF  STRIKE  BROKEN — LEGAL  REVIEW  OF 
SITUATION  BY  JUDGE  CROSSCUP — ARREST  AND  TRIAL  OF  LEADERS 
— VARIOUS  PHASES  OF  THE  STRIKE 421 

XL 

THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL. 

PRESIDENT  CLEVELAND'S  MESSAGE  OF  1887 — ISSUE  JOINED  WITH 
PROTECTION  —  THE  MILLS  TARIFF  BILL  —  ENDORSEMENT  OF 
CLEVELAND'S  MESSAGE  IN  1888 — THE  REPUBLICAN  OPPORTUNITY 
IN  1890 — DEMOCRATIC  VICTORY  OF  THAT  YEAR — DEMOCRATIC 
OPPORTUNITY  IN  520 "CONGRESS — FAILURE  TO  PASS  A  TARIFF 
BILL — GETTING  READY  FOR  1892 — RENOMINATION  OF  CLEVELAND 
— RADICAL  CHARACTER  OF  PLATFORM — MODIFIED  BY  THE  LETTER 
OF  ACCEPTANCE — TARIFF  REFORM  STILL  A  MAIN  ISSUE — THE 
GREAT  VICTORY  OF  1892 — THE  SPECIAL  SESSION  AND  REPEAL 
OF  THE  SHERMAN  ACT — MR.  WILSON'S  TARIFF  BILL— THE 
INCOME  TAX — PASSAGE  OF  THE  BILL  IN  THE  HOUSE — HOSTILITY 
OF  THE  SENATE — AMENDMENTS — POWER  OF  THE  SUGAR  TRUST — 
THE  EXPOSURE  AND  SCANDAL — OPPOSITION  OF  SENATOR  HILL — 
PASSAGE  OF  BILL  IN  SENATE — DISAGREEMENT — THE  PRESI- 
DENT'S LETTER  REFLECTING  ON  SENATORS— THREATENED  PARTY 
BREACH 455 


HALF-TONE  PHOTOGRAPHS. 


JAMES  P.  BOYD,  A.  M. ' 

Frontispiece 

HON.  N.  W.  ALDRICH  .  .  122 
GEN.  RUSSELL  ALGER  .  .  80 
HON.  WM.  B.  ALLISON  .  .279 
HON.  JOHN  P.  ALTGELD  .  439 

P.  M.  ARTHUR 33 

HON.  RICHARD  P.  BLAND  .  253 
HON.  HORACE  BOIES  .  .  52 
HON.  CALVIN  S.  BRICE  .  .218 
CARL  BROWNE  ....  406 
HON.  W.  J.  BRYAN  .  .  .  61 
HON.  M.  C.  BUTLER  ...  67 
HON.  JAMES  E.  CAMPBELL  128 
HON.  JOHN  G.  CARLISLE  .  386 
JACOB  S.  COXEY  ....  403 
HON.  GROVER  CLEVELAND  345 
HON.  W.  B.  COCHRAN  .  .  94 
HON.  CHAS.  P.  CRISP  .  .  266 
HON.  D.  B.  CULBERSON  .  .  224 


PACK 

HON.  SHELBY  M.  CULLOM  109 
HON.  JOHN  DALZELL  .  .115 
EUGENE  V.  DEBS  ....  430 
HON.  DON  M.  DICKINSON  .  74 
HON.  Jos.  N.  DOLPH  .  .  135 
HON.  WM.  P.  FRYE  ...  238 
SAMUEL  GOMPERS  ...  32 
HON.  JOHN  B.  GORDON  .  .170 
HON.  ARTHUR  P.  GORMAN  479 
HON.  ISAAC  P.  GRAY  .  .129 
HON.  ISHAM  G.  HARRIS  .  176 
HON.  BENJ.  HARRISON  .  .  352 
HON.  M.  D.  HARTER  .  .  .177 
HON.  Jos.  R.  HAWLEY  .  .  148 
JOHN  W.  HAYES  ....  26 
HON.  ANTHONY  HIGGINS  .  183 
HON.  DAVID  B.  HILL  .  .196 
HON.  JAMES  K.  JONES  .  .  190 
HON.  JOHN  LIND  .  .  .  .211 
HON.  WM.  MCKINLEY,  JR.  100 
(17) 


HALF-TONE  PHOTOGRAPHS. 


PAGE 

HON.  JAMES  MCMILLAN  .  225 
HON.  JOHN  R.  MCPHERSON  231 
HON.  W.  H.  H.  MILLER  .  244 
HON.  R.  Q.  MILLS  .  .  .  323 
HON.  JOHN  M.  PALMER  .  307 
HON.  W.  A.  PEFFER  .  .  .272 
HON.  R.  F.  PETTIGREW  .  273 
HON.  THOS.  C.  POWER  .  .  286 
TERRENCE  V.  POWDERLY  .  19 
HON.  REDFIELD  PROCTOR  292 
HON.  JAMES  L,.  PUGH  .  .  301 
GEO.  M.  PULLMAN  .  .  .  423 
HON.  M.  S.  QUAY  ....  259 


PAGE 

3T4 
329 

39 
46 


HON.  THOS.  B.  REED  .  . 
HON.  JOHN  SHERMAN  .  . 
J.  R.  SOVEREIGN  .... 
HON.  WM.  M.  SPRINGER  . 
HON.  ADLAI  E.  STEVEN- 
SON   81 

HON.  WM.  M.  STEWART  .  336 
HON.  HENRY  M.  TELLER  .  142 
HON.  GEO.  V.  VEST  .  .  .163 
HON.  WM.  F.  VILAS  .  .  157 
HON.  DANL.  W.  VOORHEES  205 
HON.  WM.  C.  WHITNEY  .  87 
HON.  WM.  I,.  WILSON  .  462 


TERRANCE  V.  POWDF.RLY, 

Ex-  General  Cluster  Workman  Knights  of  Labor. 
('9) 


THE  LABOR  ISSUES. 

IN  any  civilized  country,  labor  issues  are  complex.  They 
are-especially  so  in  the  United  States.  One  would  suppose 
that  they  should  be  simpler,  less  frequent  and  less  bitter  in  a 
country  where  freedom  so  abounds,  intelligence  is  so  widely 
diffused  and  industrial  opportunity  is  so  inviting,  as  in  this. 
But  these  conditions  seem  to  promote  rather  than  settle 
labor  problems.  At  any  rate  labor  issues  were  never 
sharper,  more  numerous  or  more  involved  than  at  present 
and  right  here  in  this  goodly  land.  They  are  given  social 
shape  and  made  to  play  a  part  along  the  entire  line  from 
anarchy  to  the  highest  type  of  communism.  They  are  given 
political  shape  and  made  to  shade  off  the  professions  and 
practices  of  parties.  They  are  given  economic  shape  and 
made  the  subject  of  debate  in  voluminous  treatises. 

The  mood  of  labor  is  not  a  happy  one.  Many  of  its  is- 
sues are  hastily  framed  and  angrily  presented.  Others  are 
weak  and  foolish.  Still  others  are  sheer  inventions  of  dem- 
agogic enemies  of  true  labor,  and  forced  upon  it  with  malign 
spirit.  All  this  is  most  unfortunate,  for  there  is  no  cause 
higher  than  that  of  labor.  It  concerns  every  man,  woman 
and  child  who  seeks  honest  bread  by  the  sweat  of  the  brow, 
who  toils  with  hand  or  brain.  It  equally  concerns  capital, 
which  is  only  stored  up  labor.  It  ought  to  be  the  best  studied 
and  most  patiently  elaborated  of  all  causes ;  and  so  it  should 
be  the  most  clearly  understood.  All  its  issues  should  be 
deliberate.  Thus  only  can  its  victories  be  permanent  and 
valuable. 

Labor  is  normal;  idleness  abnormal.  Labor  is  a  blessing; 

2  (21) 


22  TH£  LABOR  ISSUES. 

idleness  a  curse.  Honest  labor  is  the  most  staple  of  all 
commodities.  One  of  the  issues  presented  by  labor  is  that 
its  values,  that  is,  its  wages,  are  exempt  from  the  natural 
laws  of  supply  and  demand.  This  theory  is  taught  by  many 
agitators,  and  insisted  upon  every  time  an  attempt  is  made 
to  establish  artificial  wages  through  the  agency  of  labor 
unions.  It  is  a  theory  which  is  denounced  when  applied  to 
railway  pools,  speculative  "  corners,"  and  all  combinations 
other  than  labor,  which  have  for  their  object  the  forcing  of 
prices  above  or  below  what  an  honest  demand  warrants.  It 
is  a  theory  which  fails  of  support  in  all  legitimate  commer- 
cial transactions,  and  as  to  all  wages  earned  by  that  class  of 
toilers  who  work  with  the  brain.  Precisely  why  muscle 
should  claim  exemption  from  the  universal  law  of  supply 
and  demand  is  not  made  plain.  The  theory  no  doubt  took 
shape  in  factory  cities  and  towns, where  labor  becomes  closely 
aggregated  and  finds  great  difficulty  in  resisting  attacks  on 
it  by  moving  to  places  where  it  would  meet  with  a  greater 
demand.  Once  the  theory  found  even  this  limited  support, 
it  was  an  easy  thing  to  extend  it  to  all  sections  and  all 
classes  of  labor. 

The  organization  of  labor  in  this  country  is  very  com- 
plete, in  so  far  as  it  is  effected  by  the  unions,  or  guilds,  be- 
longing to  the  trades.  These  unions  had  their  inception  in 
a  sincere  desire  to  better  the  general  condition  of  the  class 
of  labor  they  represented.  The  object  sought  was  to  be  ob- 
tained by  discussion  of  vital  questions,  unanimity  of  purpose, 
general  elevation  of  the  membership.  No  object  could  be 
more  exemplary  or  worthy  of  encouragement.  So  long  as 
it  was  kept  steadily  in  view  labor  could  not  suffer,  but  on 
the  contrary  was  bound  to  enjoy  larger  rewards,  for  as  it  in- 
creased its  self-respect  and  grew  in  intelligence  it  was  but 
laying  the  foundation  of  a  larger  demand  for  it. 


THE  LABOR  ISSUES.  43 

But  as  time  passed,  and  as  a  rule,  the  primitive  labor 
unions  underwent  many  and  serious  changes.  Even  the 
most  cautious  and  sedate  guilds  found  themselves  endowed 
with  a  power  which  they  could  turn  into  attack  upon  capi- 
tal, or  which,  at  least,  brought  them  into  antagonism  with 
employers.  From  this  time  on  the  lines  began  to  be  drawn 
more  tightly  between  labor  and  capital,  or  employee  and 
employer.  Aggressiveness  on  the  part  of  one  was  met  with 
hostility  on  the  part  of  the  other.  The  guild,  or  union,  en- 
larged its  laws  and  operations,  and  stood  as  the  representa- 
tive of  its  membership  upon  any  and  every  question  touch- 
ing its  existence  as  an  organization,  as  well  as  upon  every 
issue  that  might  arise  between  it  and  those  who  opposed  it. 
It  became  a  close  corporation,  with  many  objects  in  view 
which  were  clearly  foreign  to  its  inception. 

But  even  with  its  consciousness  of  enlarged  power,  with 
its  leanings  toward  exclusiveness  and  its  antagonism  of  cap- 
ital, which  was  but  labor  in  another  form,  with  its  limitations 
on  apprenticeship,  with  its  exaltation  of  a  "strike,"  which  is 
war,  into  a  rational  argument,  the  union,  with  all  its  depart- 
ures from  original  intent,  had  still  a  legitimate  sphere  of  ac- 
tion. It  cannot  be  said  that  it  has  not  done  much  to  amel- 
iorate labor  conditions,  wherever  it  has  presented  its  issues 
with  intelligence  and  fairness,  and  it  will  continue  to  do  so 
as  long  as  it  resists  passion  and  adheres  to  the  reasons 
which  brought  it  into  being.  The  union  that  has  preserved 
its  independence,  that  has  elaborated  its  views  with  care, 
that  has  understood  best  the  true  relations  between 
employer  and  employee,  is  a  more  powerful  agent 
than  ever  before  for  the  achievement  of  legitimate  aims.  On 
the  contrary,  the  union  that  is  organized  solely  for  defiancCj 
that  loses  itself  in  clouds  of  selfishness,  that  retaliates  at 
every  fancied  wrong,  that  looks  upon  its  mission  as  one  of 


24  THE  LABOR  ISSUES. 

arbitrary  demand,  that  cultivates  antipathy  between  itself 
and  the  capital  it  creates,  that  refuses  to  recognize  the  rela- 
tions of  business,  the  forms  of  law,  the  principles  of  every 
day  justice,  weakens  its  power  as  an  agent  of  labor  and  as 
the  representative  of  a  noble  cause. 

It  was  but  natural  that  the  distinct  and  local  unions  should 
coalesce  in  the  cities  and  large  manufacturing  centres. 
This  coalition  was  an  element  of  strength,  and  a  direct 
encouragement  to  that  wider  combination  which  sought  to 
nationalize  the  cause  of  labor.  Engineers,  miners,  iron- 
workers, craftsmen  of  nearly  every  kind,  threw  their  local 
unions  in  with  a  central  organization,  and  began  to  seek 
their  rights  through  amalgamated  effort. 

It  may  well  be  doubted  whether  this  tendency  toward  the 
naturalization  of  the  local  unions  has  proven  wise.  It  has 
certainly  been  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  independence  of  the 
lesser  guilds,  and  very  many  of  them,  representing  trades  of 
the  highest  skill  and  intelligence,  have  persistently  refused 
to  make  the  surrender,  preferring  to  trust  to  their  individual 
power  to  achieve  their  aims.  More  than  this,  it  has  sub- 
jected the  local  unions  to  a  series  of  embarrassments  they 
would  have  escaped  if  amalgamation  had  not  been  thought 
of,  or  if  it  had  extended  no  further  than  to  the  unions  within 
a  certain  locality  and  having  large  common  interests. 

The  amalgamated,  or  national  union  operates  under  a 
code  of  laws,  which,  for  the  most  part  are  extremely  rigid, 
and  is  presided  over  by  a  master  whose  authority  is  prac- 
tically undisputed.  He  is  a  master  \n  the  broadest  sense,  and 
may  order  with  all  the  confidence  of  a  Caesar.  This  su- 
preme sway  is  a  source  of  danger  to  national  unionism  and 
has  proved  the  death  of  many  of  the  general  organizations. 
But  this  is  not  the  only  defect  or  danger  of  the  national 
plan  of  presenting  labor  issues  and  solving  labor  problems. 


JOHN  W.  HAYES, 

General  Secretary  Treasurer  Knights  of  Labor. 
(26) 


THE  LABOR  ISSUES.  27 

There  are  two  other  defects,  and  they  are  both  so  vital  as 
to  lead  to  the  conviction  that  the  cause  of  true  labor  has 
lost  more  by  amalgamated,  or  national  unionism  than  it  has 
ever  gained  by  it.  The  first  of  these  two  defects  lies  in  the 
fact  that  national  unionism,  when  incorporated  into  a  gov- 
ernment as  necessarily  absolute  as  it  must  be,  opens  the 
door  to  individual  ambitions  and  to  a  management,  at  once 
costly  and  dangerous.  It  becomes  a  playground  for  those 
who  seek  power  for  selfish  ends  and  who  glory  in  the  exer- 
cise of  tyranny.  The  idle  man  who  is  a  born  agitator  and 
possesses  political  shrewdness  finds  here  a  field  he  can  cul- 
tivate at  the  expense  of  the  true  laborer,  the  unsuspecting 
guild  and  even  the  cause  at  large. 

The  second  of  these  defects  is  the  impossibility  of  co-or- 
dinating and  adjusting  the  different  conditions  and  interests 
of  the  same  kind  of  labor,  in  a  country  where  diversity  is  so 
great  and  natural  as  this.  It  may  be  that  a  certain  class  of 
labor  is  unjustly  suffering  in  one  section  while  it  has  nothing 
to  complain  of  in  another.  Yet,  supposing  that  a  strike  be 
the  method  of  relief  agreed  upon,  the  uncomplaining  section 
must  either  join  in  the  strike  directly,  or  indirectly  by  sym- 
pathy ;  stand  a  tax  for  the  benefit  of  the  general  fund,  or  else 
lose  caste  and  run  the  risk  of  expulsion. 

Take  the  bituminous  coal  sections  of  the  country,  say  in 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Illinois,  Maryland,  West  Virginia,  Ala- 
bama and  Colorado.  The  mineral  is  the  same,  the  class  of 
labor  the  same.  Yet  in  some  sections  veins  are  large  and 
mines  are  shallow.  In  others  veins  are  small  and  mines  are 
deep.  In  some  living  is  dearer  than  in  others.  In  some 
coal  cannot  be  marketed  as  cheaply  as  in  others.  Different 
scales  of  wages  prevail  in  the  different  sections,  different 
conditions  in  every  respect.  Yet,  as  has  just  been  exempli- 
fied by  the  almost  universal  coal-strike,  the  contented  labor 


28  THE  LABOR  ISSUES. 

of  one  section  is  forced  to  go  to  the  rescue  of  the  discon- 
tented labor  of  another.  Natural  conditions  are  ignored, 
and  a  majority  is  made  to  suffer  for  the  benefit  of  a  min- 
ority. It  would  seem  next  to  impossible  for  labor  thus  to 
run  counter  to  all  the  laws  which  capital  is  forced  to  obey, 
and  at  the  same  time  hope  to  benefit  its  cause. 

The  great,  strong  arm  of  the  labor  union,  its  final  argu- 
ment, is  the  "  strike."  It  may  well  be  questioned  whether 
the  "  strike  "  is  the  evolution  of  American  intelligence  and 
American  conditions.  It  may  equally  be  questioned  whether 
it  has  the  sanction  of  the  majority  of  organized  labor  in  this 
country,  or  the  moral  sanction  of  any  native,  intelligent 
labor.  We  speak  now  of  the  "  strike  "  in  the  sense  of  an 
open,  coercive  force — the  "  strike  "  as  a  supreme  fiat — the 
"  strike  "  as  a  defiance  of  order,  law,  and  every  right  secured 
to  the  non-striker.  For  there  are  strikes  upon  strikes. 
None  can  doubt  the  right  of  a  man  to  quit  work  when  dis- 
satisfied with  his  wages  or  employer.  None  can  doubt  the 
right  of  a  guild  or  union  to  declare  a  strike,  if  it  means 
thereby  that  its  members  shall  quit  work  in  a  body,  the  bet- 
ter to  secure  thereby  a  just  aim.  It  might  not  be  well  to 
inquire  too  far  into  the  logic  of  such  a  method,  while  the 
doors  of  argument,  conference,  arbitration  and  compromise 
are  open.  It  is  only  after  these  are  supposed  to  be  shut 
that  the  strike  is  robbed  of  arbitrariness  and  begins  to  have 
a  logic. 

The  strike  of  which  we  speak  is  that  which  came  to  be 
known  as  the  Homestead  strike,  the  railroad  strikes  of  1892- 
93,  the  coal  strikes  of  1894.  These  all  presented  labor  is- 
sues in  such  a  way  as  to  lead  to  the  exercise  of  force  on  the 
part  of  labor  and  of  counter-force  on  the  part  of  the  owners 
of  property  and  the  authorities.  They  involved  the  entire 
subjugation  of  unionists  to  the  supreme  orders,  the  denial 


THE   LABOR   ISSUES.  29 

of  the  right  of  non-unionists  to  work,  the  burning  of  the 
property  of  employers,  the  death  of  all  who  contravened  the 
commands  of  leaders  and  masters.  They  were  not  more 
strikes  than  conditions  of  war.  In  this  sense,  it  ought  to  be 
said,  for  the  credit  of  American  labor,  that  the  strike  is  a 
foreign  evolution  which  has  unhappily  found  lodgement  in 
our  country. 

Now  even  such  strikes  may  not  be  without  their  uses. 
They  may  at  the  start  embody  a  righteous  claim,  even 
though  it  were  lost  through  excess  of  passion.  Subse- 
quently, when  the  storm  had  passed,  such  claim  might  have 
been  cheerfully  granted,  for  capital  is  sensitive,  especially  in 
certain  precarious  forms  of  investment,  and  seldom  sleeps 
with  more  than  one  eye  shut.  They  may  also,  even  where 
unsuccessful,  serve  to  indicate  a  general  spirit  of  unrest 
which  both  employers  and  legislators  will  hasten  to  take 
cognizance  of. 

The  claims  advanced  in  behalf  of  the  final  appeal  of  labor, 
known  as  the  strike,  is  that  labor  is  subsistence,  and  there- 
fore entitled  to  use  the  highest  argument,  even  the  ultimate 
argument  of  force,  for  its  own  protection.  Capital  combines 
for  its  purposes,  why  should  not  labor?  Employers  operate 
at  times  in  a  spirit  of  tyrannical  selfishness,  and  are  deaf  to 
every  appeal  and  blind  to  every  sense  of  justice,  nothing 
will  touch  their  consciences  so  keenly  as  the  blow  direct  at 
their  pockets.  The  claims  might  be  further  elaborated  but 
these  are  the  jist  of  those  in  popular  use.  Whether  they 
vindicate  the  strike,  peaceful  or  forceful,  as  a  last  argument, 
must  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  reader. 

There  is,  however,  another  side  to  all  this,  and  it  must,  in 
pursuance  of  our  plan,  be  stated,  not  by  any  means  in  the 
interest  of  employers  nor  in  sympathy  with  capital,  but  for 
the  sake  of  true,  intelligent,  progressive  labor.  As  already 


30  THE  LABOR  ISSUES. 

stated,  no  cause  is  nobler  than  that  of  labor,  and  no  organi- 
zation is  of  greater  moment,  if  legitimate.  Man  is  social ; 
laboring  men  particularly  so.  They  require  social  recrea- 
tion and  entertainment,  co-operation  and  fraternal  interest  in 
cases  of  misfortune,  means  of  negotiation  with  employers  as 
to  wages,  hours,  privileges,  recreations  and  sanitary  regula- 
tions, libraries,  lyceums,  schools  for  the  study  of  technical 
subjects.  These 'truths  may  be  accepted  as  the  elementary 
principles  of  associative  labor.  All  else  is  departure  from 
them,  and  all  else  raises  the  question  as  to  how  far  existing 
labor  associations  are  benefitting  the  cause  at  heart. 

"  Every  rise  of  wages,"  says  Jervous,  "  which  one  body 
secures  by  mere  exclusive  combination  represents  a  certain 
amount,  sometimes  a  large  amount,  of  injury  to  the  other 
bodies  of  workmen." 

Says  J.  Stewart  Mill,  "  The  time  is  past  when  friends  of 
human  improvement  can  look  with  complacency  on  the  at- 
tempts of  small  sections  of  the  commnnity,  of  whatever 
class,  to  organize  a  separate  class  interest  in  antagonism  to 
the  general  body  of  laborers."  The  Duke  of  Argyle  calls 
attention  to  the  fact  that  there  is  a  law  of  inequality  as  all 
pervading  and  omnipotent  as  the  law  of  equality,  and 
that  the  spirit  of  association  which  insists  on  absolute  equal- 
ity is  in  direct  contravention  of  a  law  as  potential  as  that 
which  it  espouses. 

Every  economist  of  repute  admits  the  righteousness  of 
the  associative  principle,  but  all  lament  its  faulty  application- 
So  every  true  friend  of  labor  seeks  to  stay  the  swift  modern 
drift  of  that  principle  toward  the  danger  line,  and  to  swing  it 
back  to  safe  moorings.  And  first  of  all  it  is  sought,  least- 
ways thought  wise,  to  put  a  brake  on  that  spirit  and  temper 
of  association  which  encourages  enmity  toward  capital.  This 
sentimental  enmity  has  been  strongly  encouraged,  not  so 


P.  M.  ARTHUR, 

President  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Engineers. 
(33) 


SAMUEL  GOMPERS, 

President  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 
(32) 


THE  LABOR  ISSUES.  35 

much  by  reason  of  association  in  itself,  as  by  reason  of  that 
secret  jealousy  in  human  nature  which  extends  toward 
those  believed  to  be  better  off  than  ourselves ;  and  it  has 
become  almost  a  habit  to  think  and  speak  of  labor  and  cap- 
ital as  irreconcilable  enemies.  Nothing  could  be  farther 
from  the  truth,  else  why  the  law,  whose  proof  is  in  daily 
observation,  that  when  one  suffers,  both  suffer,  and  when 
one  prospers  both  prosper. 

Those  who  seek  this  correction  of  the  associative  princi- 
ple are  clearly  in  the  right,  for  there  are  far  too  many 
leaders  and  agitators  of  political  turn  who  seek  a  living  and 
reputation  by  fostering  the  enmity  above  mentioned.  They 
find  in  the  labor  organizations  machinery  and  a  half-molded 
disposition  ready  at  hand  to  gratify  their  desire  for  gain, 
love  of  notoriety  and  a  sense  of  power. 

Again  the  question  is  put  as  to  whether  the  labor  com- 
binations as  they  exist  at  present,  are  not  in  opposition  to 
individual  industry  and  excellence  and  do  not  tend  to  drive 
members  toward  dependency.  The  road  toward  depend- 
ency lies  in  failure  to  rely  on  one's  own  merit,  and  in  trust- 
ing wholly  to  an  organization  to  fix  wages  and  regulate  em- 
ployment. Labor  is  not  that  necessary  evil,  the  less  of 
which  we  can  get  along  with  the  better.  It  is  rather  that 
staple,  the  more  demand  for  which  the  better.  Anything 
which  tends  to  make  it  inefficient  or  dissatisfied  is  not  in  its 
true  interest,  neither  does  it  conduce  to  the  elevation  of 
character  or  the  formation  of  sterling  manhood.  The  spirit 
of  labor  combination  is  a  yearning  for  equality,  a  levelling 
process,  by  means  of  which  inefficiency  is  placed  on  a  par 
with  efficiency.  Thus  there  is  a  descent  of  real  excellence 
till  it  meets  demerit,  and  the  balance  is  no  higher  than  the 
original  level.  There  are  waves  and  troughs,  but  in  time  of 
calm  the  sea  is  in  its  same  old  condition. 


36  THE  LABOR  ISSUES. 

Well  may  the  intelligent  American  laborer  ask,  can  I 
afford  to  surrender  my  liberty,  skill,  duty,  and  conscience  to 
any  tribunal  that  arrogates  to  itself  the  power  to  order  me 
out  and  in,  regardless  of  personal  choice  ?  Is  not  such  sur- 
render a  confession  that  I  am  no  longer  responsible  for  my 
conduct,  nor  confident  of  my  ability  to  take  care  of  myself? 
These  questions  do  not  imply  that  there  is  any  lack  of  the 
benevolent  or  charitable  principle.  They  do,  however,  sug- 
gest that  charity  is  one  thing  and  business  quite  another. 
But  here  the  laborer  makes  no  mistake,  unless  all  the  busi- 
ness world  is  at  the  same  time  mistaken,  for  even  the  busi- 
ness man  who  gives  most  will  not  admit  charity  as  a 
business  partner  into  his  firm. 

It  is  in  this  surrender  of  personal  independence  to  the 
combination  that  the  latter  finds  its  encouragement  to  use 
arbitrary  means  to  secure  its  aims.  Every  surrender  is  an 
evidence  of  weakness.  The  organization  is  numerically 
one  stronger,  but  it  is  still  stronger,  in  case  it  resolves  on 
an  arbitrary  measure,  by  reason  of  the  submission  it  has 
secured.  It  is  thus,  as  it  were,  doubly  fortified  for  its  pur- 
poses. It  is  thus  doubly  prepared  to  insist  on  even  the  rec- 
titude of  a  strike,  if  that  be  the  measure. 

And  now  that  we  have  seen  the  claims  made  for  a 
"  strike,"  and  about  all  the  uses  it  can  be  made  to  subserve, 
let  us  glance  briefly  at  the  counter  logic.  Take  as  an  in- 
stance the  notable  strike  of  1886,  on  the  Gould  system  of 
railroads  extending  from  St.  Louis  to  Texas.  It  had  its 
origin  in  the  discharge  of  a  single  union  man  and  the  sub- 
stitution of  a  non-unionist.  This  small  beginning  proved  to 
be  a  trickle  of  water  through  the  breast  of  a  dam.  The 
aperture  enlarged  and  the  stream  increased  till  it  burst  into 
a  torrent  which  carried  thousands  of  men  out  of  good  places 
of  employment,  swept  thousands  of  others,  dependent  on 


THE  LABOR  ISSUES.  37 

them,  from  their  moorings,  unhoused  and  impoverished  the 
families  of  all,  interrupted  for  weeks  the  business  of  four 
states,  devastated  valuable  property  by  fire,  resulted  in  the 
death  of  scores  of  seekers  for  work,  converted  all  the  prom- 
ises of  a  prosperous  business  year  into  disaster.  Labor  alone 
lost  in  that  year,  by  reason  of  this  disturbance,  millions  of 
dollars.  No  economist  of  any  school  has  ever  figured  a 
recompense  equal  to  that  appalling  sacrifice. 

But  the  worst  feature  of  this  strike,  a  feature  too  often 
found  in  subsequent  ones,  was  that,  while  claiming  to  be  a 
strike  for  the  maintenance  of  a  principle,  it  was  not  spon- 
taneous but  ordered,  not  voluntary  but  compelled  by  agi- 
tators who  did  not  belong  to  the  ranks  of  the  workingmen. 
In  that  same  year  occurred  the  tanners'  strike  of  Salem  and 
Peabody  in  Massachusetts,  accompanied  by  force  and  de- 
struction. It  began  in  July  and  peace  was  not  fully  restored 
until  November.  A  careful  summary  of  results  was  made, 
which  showed  that  most  of  the  strikers  lost  their  places  and 
had  to  move  to  other  places  at  a  loss  of  $456,408  dollars,  out- 
side of  what  they  received  from  the  Knights  of  Labor,had  they 
continued  work.  This  history  was  repeated  in  the  strike  of 
the  Chicago  pork  and  beef  packers  of  the  same  year,  except 
that  they  were  plunged  into  greater  misery  by  being 
"  ordered  out  "  on  the  eve  of  winter,  and  therefore  all  the 
more  exasperated  at  sight  of  others  occupying  the  places 
they  had  been,  by  "  superior  decree,"  forced  out  of. 

Labor  has  never  put  into  statistical  form,  nor  incorporated 
into  its  economics  the  advantages  derived  from  any  of 
these  strikes.  This  omission  leaves  one  in  the  position  of 
suspecting  that  the  losses  and  miseries  entailed  exceeded 
the  benefits,  and  that  the  cause  was  retarded  rather  than 
advanced.  They  were  a  presentation  of  issues  out  of  time, 
and  in  a  way,  which  defeated  themselves.  They  were  more 


38  THE  LABOR  ISSUES. 

warfare  than  strikes,  and  their  burdens  were  felt  in  the  shape 
of  taxes,  by  every  union  man  belonging  to  the  respective 
organizations.  There  is  a  bold  fact  staring  American  labor 
in  the  face,  and  that  is  that  despite  unrestricted  immigra- 
tion, wages  here  are  double  what  they  are  in  Europe,  and 
further,  that  the  average  price  of  labor  here  is  double  what 
it  was  thirty  years  ago.  It  ought  to  be  made  plain  that  the 
various  labor  issues  as  presented  in  their  forceful,  violent, 
incendiary  and  bloody  forms,  in  their  forms  of  final  appeals 
and  last  resorts,  are  to  be  credited  with  all  or  some  of  this 
difference,  all  or  some  of  this  increase.  But  books  and 
theories  are  alike  silent ;  the  more  so,  because  it  is  patent 
to  even  the  most  ordinary  mind  that  the  above  wonderful 
and  encouraging  results  are  due  wholly  to  the  operation  of 
peaceful  and  natural  laws. 

Of  a  piece  with  the  strike,  is  the  "  boycott."  It  too  is 
unbusiness-like,  revengeful  and  un-American.  The  right 
of  a  wage-worker  to  buy  in  the  lowest  market,  or  where 
and  what  he  pleases,  is  a  right  as  sacred  as  that  to  work  for 
whom  and  what  he  pleases.  If  the  injustice  of  the  "  boy- 
cott "  touched  only  the  member  of  the  union  whose  pro- 
duct he  is  compelled  to  buy  to  the  exclusion  of  every  other, 
it  might  be  regarded  as  justly  retributive,  but  his  family 
may  be  made  to  suffer  thereby,  to  say  nothing  of  the  injury 
to  society  at  large,  of  which  every  laborer  is  a  part. 

The  labor  issues  of  the  day,  as  presented  by  the  combina- 
tions, are  not  fairly  representative  of  labor  as  a  whole. 
The  organizations  do  not  represent  the  entire  labor  of  the 
country.  It  may  be  safely  asserted,  indeed  statistics  prove, 
that  but  a  small  part  of  the  manual  laborers  of  the  country 
belong  to  the  organizations.  And  yet,  notwithstanding 
this  disparity,  there  is  presented  the  very  singular 
spectacle  of  a  part  assuming  to  be  equal  to  the  whole. 


J.  R.  SOVEREIGN, 

General  Master  Workman  Knights  of  Labor. 
(39) 


THE  LABOR  ISSUES.  41 

There  is  also  presented  the  further  sad  spectacle  of  an  ani- 
mosity between  parts  as  bitter  as  that  between  labor  and 
capital.  The  non-unionist  is  labelled  a  "scab"  and 
"  black-leg,"  and  denounced  as  one  criminal  to  his  craft, 
and  what  is  most  singular  is  that  writers  and  speakers  on 
labor  subjects,  men  supposably  imbued  with  true  philos- 
ophy and  running  over  with  philanthropy,  never  allude  to 
this  great  unorganized  majority  of  labor,  but  mention  it  only 
in  organized  minority  form.  Though  law-abiding  citizens, 
entitled  to  encouragement  and  respect,  this  majority  exists 
without  friend  or  plea,  arbiter  of  its  own  destiny,  free  from 
interference  by  agitator,  demagogue,  or  political  solicitor. 

It  certainly  was  not  the  original  design  of  labor  combina- 
tions in  this  country  to  foster  the  socialistic  spirit,  either 
by  leaving  behind  natural  and  business  principles  or  by  any 
system  of  compulsion,  any  more  than  it  was  the  original 
design  that  the  strike  should  take  the  form  of  murder  and 
burning.  But  in  the  latter  case  we  have  seen  how  utterly 
impossible  it  is  to  control  passion  in  the  midst  of  excite- 
ment incident  to  a  strike,  and  what  propensity  there  is  for 
resentment  to  take  destructive  turn,  especially  as  the  issue 
at  stake  assumes  doubtful  and  desperate  form.  So  in  the 
former  case,  in  spite  of  orginal  theory,  the  labor  and 
socialistic  organizations,  notably  in  the  larger  cities,  have 
drifted  so  closely  together  as  to  be  almost  identical.  The 
cause  of  labor  may  not  be  so  much  attracted  by  socialism, 
as  the  cause  of  socialism  by  labor,  yet  the  result  is  almost 
the  same  as  if  the  attraction  were  mutual. 

Socialism  is  particularly  alluring  to  ignorant  labor  and 
especially  to  labor  of  a  foreign  type,  with  its  crude  notions 
of  individual  freedom  under  republican  institutions.  It  is 
this  class  of  labor  that  is  most  susceptible  to  those  social- 
istic vagaries  which  have  for  their  object  the  estrangement 


4*  THE  LABOR  ISSUES. 

of  labor  and  capital  and  the  inculcation  of  the  spirit  that 
because  the  results  of  accumulated  labor  are  not  shared 
equally  the  laborer  has  been  treated  unfairly  and  has  not 
had  his  just  dues.  Now  in  speaking  of  socialism  we  do  not 
mean  that  socialism  which  is  prompted  by  the  fraternal 
spirit,  but  that  which  preaches  the  doctrine  of  a  "  grand 
divide,"  which  is  alien  in  its  composition,  which  deals  in 
fiery  declamation  against  property  and  capital,  whose  spirit 
is  destructive,  not  constructive,  whose  genius  is  that  "  the 
world  owes  every  man  a  living  "  no  matter  how  lazy,  im- 
provident and  reckless  he  may  be,  and  that  the  man  who 
has  accumulated  property  by  patient  toil  must  divide  with 
him  and  keep  on  dividing.  Labor — honest,  intelligent,  true 
labor — cannot  afford  to  present  its  issues  under  any  such 
socialistic  banners  as  the  above,  for  in  the  end  the  alliance 
will  prove  a  source  of  weakness  rather  than  strength. 
There  is  still  another  kind  of  socialism,  represented  by 
many  schools,  which  seeks  the  nationalization  of  industry 
by  due  forms  of  law.  Of  this  we  shall  speak  further  on. 

The  great  number  of  strikes  in  this  country  shows 
inherent  feith  in  them  as  a  means  to  an  end,  or  else  a 
fatuity  wholly  inexcusable  and  beyond  the  power  of  ordi- 
nary reason  to  comprehend.  In  looking  back  over  them 
and  judging  them  by  their  practical  results,  one  is  astounded 
at  the  small  amount  of  gain  to  the  cause  of  labor  in  proporr 
tion  to  the  self-imposed  penalties  it  pays.  The  bituminous 
coal  strikes  of  1894  were  general  and  apparently  well  or- 
ganized. The  Miners'  Union  was  strong  and  headed  by 
an  able  official.  The  active  strikers  were  backed  by 
"  sympathy  "  strikers,  till  the  whole  number  out  of  work, 
directly  and  indirectly,  numbered,  by  estimate,  225, ooo. 
The  strike  lasted  about  two  months.  Mr.  O'Brien,  the 
head  of  the  miners,  estimated  the  loss,  direct  and  incidental, 


THE  LABOR  ISSUES.  43 

occasioned  by  the  strike,  at  $20,000,000  for  the  first  month. 
For  the  two  months  it  would  be  $40,000,000.  Though  the 
active  strikers  succeeded  in  getting  four  cents  more  per  ton 
for  mining  than  the  operators  at  first  offered,  they  fell  short 
of  their  demand  by  ten  cents  a  ton,  according  to  the 
Columbus  settlement  But  for  a  compromise,  even  this 
would  not  have  been  gained.  The  men  resumed  work, 
where  they  resumed  at  all,  in  grumbling,  dissatisfied  mood. 
It  may  well  be  asked  whether  the  strike  was  the  best  way 
of  handling  the  issue.  Leaving  out  all  question  of  loss  of 
life  by  violence,  and  of  property  by  burning,  did  it  pay  ? 

Take  the  instance  of  labor  issues  as  presented  in  Australia 
in  1892.  Labor  unionism  had  there  a  domination  more 
complete  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world,  indeed,  so  com- 
plete that  the  strikes  there  of  that  year  were  for  the  absolute 
and  universal  recognition  of  the  organizations  and  not  for 
higher  wages  ;  so  complete  that  four  long,  desperate,  co-op- 
erative strikes  were  carried  on,  involving  interests  and 
localities  entirely  distinct  from  the  original  controversy,  and 
carrying  distress,  bankruptcy  and  panic  everywhere.  In  no 
case  did  the  issues  hinge  upon  the  question  of  wages,  but 
solely  on  the  demand  for  the  exclusive  recognition  of 
unionism.  The  issue  was  false  to  true  labor.  The  unions 
were  disrupted  and  went  down  amid  the  wreckage  of  co- 
lonial industries.  Chaos  ruled  where  prosperity  had  pre- 
sided. What  true  labor  gained  was  freedom,  but  despite 
the  strikes  and  the  strikers.  The  escape  of  labor  was  from 
the  tyranny  of  its  own  organizations. 

Allusion  has  been  made  to  the  fact  that  labor  organiza- 
tions discourage  apprenticeship.  Here  they  are  seriously 
at  issue  with  themselves  and  their  cause.  Even  if  they 
thus  succeed  in  keeping  up  wages  by  keeping  down  com- 
petition, it  can  only  be  for  the  existing  generation.  The 


44  THE  tABOR  ISSUES. 

question  arises  in  this  respect  as  to  whether  the  issues  of 
labor  could  not  be  better  presented  and  solved,  and  as  to 
whether  far  more  likely  remedial  agencies  for  the  vast 
amount  of  social  and  economic  infelicity  of  the  day  could 
not  be  found,  in  the  direct  opposite  of  this  treatment  of  the 
generations  that  are  to  succeed  the  present.  Take,  for 
instance,  the  trade  school  as  one  of  those  agencies.  Says 
Hon.  S.  B.  Capen :  "  That  there  is  a  special  reason  for  trade 
schools  is  made  more  apparent  when  we  remember  that  out 
of  every  hundred  boys  that  pass  through  our  grammar 
schools  only  one  per  cent,  enter  the  ministry,  one  per  cent, 
become  lawyers,  one  per  cent,  physicians,  five  per  cent, 
business  men,  and  ninety-two  per  cent,  get  a  living  by  their 
hands.  Are  we  doing  what  we  ought  for  the  ninety-two 
per  cent.  ?  " 

Says  another  writer :  "  The  trades-unions  in  these  cities 
(New  York  and  in  the  Eastern  States)  are  controlled  by 
foreigners  who  seek  to  confine  their  industries  to  men  of 
their  own  nationality.  They  not  only  refuse  to  teach 
an  American  boy  a  trade,  but  they  combine  to  prevent  him 
from  getting  employment  after  he  has  succeeded  in  learn- 
ing it  in  a  trade  school.  This  is  a  situation  of  affairs  with- 
out parallel  in  any  country  of  the  world,  and  one  which 
will  not  be  tolerated  in  this  country  when  once  public 
opinion  has  been  roused  to  a  full  comprehension  of  it.  It 
is  surely  not  too  much  for  the  American  people  to  say  that 
their  own  sons  shall  not  only  be  permitted  to  learn  trades, 
but  shall  be  permitted  also  to  work  at  them  after  they  have 
learned  them.  We  advise  any  one  desirous  of  seeing  the 
kind  of  skilled  workingmen  that  the  American  boy  makes 
to  visit  Col.  Auchmuty's  schools  (New  York  City)  and  look 
over  a  set  of  photographs  of  his  graduates.  He  will  find 
there  a  body  of  clear-browed,  straight-eyed  young  fellows 


HON.  WILLIAM  M.  SPRINGER. 

liorn  in  Sullivan  co.,  Indiana,  May  30, 1836 ;  moved  to  Illinois,  1848 ; 
graduated  at  Indiana  State  University,  1858 ;  admitted  to  bar,  1859; 
Secretary  of  Illinois  State  Constitutional  Convention,  1862;  member  of 
State  Legislature,  1871-72 ;  elected  to  represent  Thirteenth  District  in 
Congress,  in  44th,  45th,  46th,  47th,  48th,  49th,  50th  and  51st  Congresses ; 
elected  as  a  Democrat  to  52d  Congress  by  a  mnjority  of  5000;  Chair- 
man of  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means;  an  excellent  parliamentarian, 
able  orator  and  recognized  party  leader ;  was  prominent  candidate  for 
Speaker  of  52d  Congress. 

.  (46) 


THE  LABOR  ISSUES.  47 

who  will  compare  well  with  the  graduates  of  our  colleges. 
This  is  the  stuff  from  which  laborers  are  made  who  honor 
and  dignify  and  elevate  labor,  not  by  agitating,  but  by 
being  masters  of  their  craft,  faithful  in  performance,  and 
willing  to  share  its  toil  with  all  comers,  fearing  honest 
competition  from  no  quarter.  Such  men  are  at  once  true 
American  laborers  and  true  American  citizens  of  the  highest 
type,  and  the  educational  system  which  evolves  them  is  a 
national  benefaction  of  incalculable  value." 

Having  spoken  of  the  tendency  of  organized  labor  to 
become  socialistic  in  its  demands,  we  will  now  speak  of 
socialism,  or  communism,  in  its  political  sense,  or  as  a  pos- 
sible political  framework.  Socialism,  in  this  sense,  made  a 
start  in  this  country  as  early  as  1840,  and  numbered  among 
its  adherents,  writers  and  speakers,  many  distinguished 
men,  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  of  which  was  Horace 
Greeley.  It  was  in  abeyance  during  the  Civil  War,  but 
again  became  prominent  after  the  panic  of  1873,  and  when 
industrial  and  economic  questions  took  the  place  of  the  old 
slavery  agitation.  It  soon  assumed  two  forms — (i)  the 
form  of  socialism  in  general,  which  embraced  any  and  all 
plans  favoring  the  abolition  of  private  capitalism  and  looking 
to  the  substitution  of  some  form  of  co-operative  industry. 
(2)  The  form  of  socialism  in  particular,  or,  in  other  words, 
"  Nationalism  ;  "  which  insists  on  the  economic  equality  of 
all  citizens  as  the  necessary  and  sole  guarantee  of  individual 
liberty  and  dignity ;  and  that  the  industrial  organization 
shall  be  on  the  lines  of  the  national  political  organization, 
and  take  effect  through  the  nationalization  of  industry.  Of 
this  latter  socialism,  i.  e.,  the  National  School,  Mr.  Edward 
Bellamy  may  be  said  to  be  the  most  popular  teacher.  He 
regards  Coxeyism  and  all  labor  strikes  as  evidence  of  a 
growing  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  people  that  an  economic 


48  THE  LABOR  ISSUES. 

system  for  the  provision  of  labor  for  the  people  is  a  proper 
function  of  government. 

In  speaking  of  the  coal  miners'  strikes  of  1894,  Mr. 
Bellamy  says :  "  These  strikers  are  in  resistance  to  the  ten- 
dency to  lower  wages,  by  which  means  the  managers  of  our 
business  operations  are  seeking  to  load  upon  the  working 
classes  the  losses  and  damage  consequent  upon  the  recent 
and  continuing  business  crisis.  There  is  no  hope  in  the 
long  run  that  these  strikes  in  resistance  to  lowering  wages 
can-succeed.  The  only  hope  for  the  laboring  classes  is  the 
collective  or  public  conduct  of  industry  by  the  people 
through  their  governmental  agencies  for  the  common 
interest.  Mere  and  more  the  working  masses  are  beginning 
to  see  that  this  is  for  them  the  only  way  out." 

And  as  to  the  Coxey  movement,  or  "  March  of  the  Com- 
monwealers,"  he  says  :  "  These  movements  are  eminently 
socialistic  in  character  inasmuch  as  they  appeal  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  collective  or  public  organization  of  industry, 
but  the  members  of  these  various  armies  are  very  probably 
not  themselves  avowed  nationalists  or  socialists.  In  seek- 
ing relief  from  the  present  industrial  pressure  they  naturally 
and  necessarily  find  themselves  obliged  to  use  the  social- 
istic or  nationalistic  method.  Circumstances  have  forced 
them  upon  socialistic  lines  of  action." 

And  as  to  what  the  future  development  of  such  move- 
ments would  be,  he  said :  "  While  it  is  easy  to  predict  the 
ultimate  outcome,  it  is  not  possible  for  any  one  to  predict 
the  methods  and  the  precise  steps  by  which  the  result  will 
be  brought  about.  I  confidently  anticipate  that  within 
fifteen  years  the  people  of  the  United  States  will  have  com- 
mitted themselves  definitely  to  industrial  reorganization  on 
lines  of  nationalism,  that  is  to  say,  the  setting  aside  of  the 
private  conduct  of  industry  in  favor  of  a  co-operative  organ- 


HE  LABOR  ISSUES.    .  49 

ization  on  a  national  basis,  in  the  common  interest.  I  ex- 
pect in  the  meantime,  and  in  the  near  future,  to  see  a  series 
of  extraordinary  popular  demonstrations  which,  it  is  to  be 
hoped,  will  be  peaceful  in  character.  While  there  may  be, 
and  doubtless  will  be,  many  deplorable  instances  of  violence, 
and  perhaps  some  bloodshed,  I  do  not  believe  that  a  great 
war,  or  any  war  will  be  needed  to  bring  about  the  new 
order  of  things.  I  believe  it  will  be  accomplished  in  the 
main  by  a  peaceful  revolution,  and  I  believe  that  the  begin- 
ning of  that  revolution  is  close  at  hand,  if,  indeed,  it  may 
not  be  said  to  have  already  begun.  We  need  apprehend 
no  such  scenes  of  violence  in  the  course  of  our  impending 
revolution  as  marked  that  in  France,  for  the  reason  that  the 
general  intelligence  of  our  people  is,  beyond  all  com- 
parison, superior  to  that  of  the  French  masses  at  the  time 
of  the  revolution.  They  were  then  in  the  condition  that 
the  Russian  peasantry  are  now  in.  I  base  my  belief  that 
this  revolution  in  this  country  will  come  peacefully,  chiefly 
upon  the  fact  of  the  high  intelligence  of  the  American 
people." 

Mr.  Bellamy's  intelligence,  optimism  and  altruism,  can- 
not be  decried,  but  still  he  is  confronted,  as  all  socialistic 
theorists  are,  with  the  great  fundamental  question  as  to 
how  legislation  can  be  made  to  change  human  character. 
Can  brotherly  love  and  morality  be  inspired  by  an  act  of 
Congress  ?  Yet  legislation  is  to  be  invoked  for  every  ill, 
real  or  imaginary.  There  must  be  laws  against  injustice; 
against  too  long  hours  of  work;  against  competition  in 
labor  and  trade ;  against  trusts  and  corporations ;  against 
scarcity  of  money.  Coal  mines,  iron  mines,  gold  and 
silver  mines,  railways,  telegraphs,  are  to  be  national- 
ized. The  millenium  is  to  be  brought  about  by  coercive 
legislation.  An  able  writer  compares  this  ideal  situation  to 


50  THE  LABOR  ISSUES. 

Babel.  He  says  :  "  And  now  there  comes  a  band  of  earnest 
men  and  women  who  see  plainly  the  evils  of  the  times, 
and  who  would  give  up  much  to  help  their  fellow  men. 
'  Come,  brothers,'  they  say,  '  and  let  us  be  brothers  indeed.' 
We  will  make  a  tremendous,  a  sky-reaching,  an  all  power- 
ful law,  that  all  men  are  and  shall  be  brothers ;  that  no  one 
shall  have  more  of  the  world's  goods  than  another ;  that 
each  shall  give  his  best  work  and  best  endeavors  for  the 
common  good  of  all.  We  will  all  work  for  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  Government  will  feed  us  all.  We  will  have 
no  more  poverty  and  no  more  riches,  but  all  shall  work 
and  eat  at  the  nation's  table,  and  none  shall  be  kept  in  idle- 
ness or  go  away  in  hunger.  This  is  the  plan  of  the  Nation- 
alist. It  is  the  loftiest  structure  of  its  kind  that  the  mind  of 
man  ever  sought  to  rear;  for  socialism  thinks  to  outwit 
Mother  Nature  herself,  and  to  legislate  the  law  of  the  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  It  is  the  modern 
tower  of  Babel ;  but  it  is  not  built  of  bricks,  but  of  men  ; 
and  the  mortar  of  legislation  never  can  make  a  man  stay 
put.  The  law  of  evolution  is  superior  to  the  laws  of  men. 
Before  man  was,  it  was ;  and  yet,  like  the  Babel  of  old,  he 
thinks  to  overtop  it." 

The  great  question  for  industrial  energy  and  all  true 
labor  to  consider  is  whether  it  does  not  require  less  rather 
than  more  legislation.  It  is  unlike  everything  else  in  the 
world  if  it  does  not  seek  to  live  ajong  the  lines  of  least 
resistance,  and  this  implies  the  least  possible  restriction  and 
the  greatest  amount  of  natural  freedom.  Socialism  may  be 
both  earnest  and  truthful  when  it  descants  upon  "  wage- 
slavery,"  but  after  all,  is  there  any  coercion  so  dangerous  as 
that  which  would  sweep  away  all  individual  liberty  ?  The 
employer  is  often  more  of  a  slave  to  competition  and 
markets  than  the  wage-earner  is  to  toil ;  and  how  often 


HON.  HORACE  BOIES. 

Born  in  Erie  co.,  N.  Y.,  December  7,  1827;  started,  a  poor  boy,  at 
sixteen,  for  Racine,  Wis. ;  worked  on  a  farm  for  a  time  and  returned  to 
New  York;  admitted  to  bar  of  Erie  co.,  1852;  elected  to  Assembly, 
as  a  Republican,  1853;  nominated  a  second  time  and  defeated;  moved 
to  Waterloo,  Iowa,  1867 ;  practiced  profession,  and  became  large  land 
owner ;  left  the  Republican  party  on  account  of  its  prohibition  doctrines 
in  1883;  advocated  Cleveland's  election  in  1884;  favors  tariff  reform, 
but  not  unqualified  free  coinage ;  nominated  for  Governor,  on  Demo- 
cratic ticket,  in  fall  of  1889,  and  elected  ;  a  Congregationalist,  strictly 
temperate,  and  a  patron  of  fine-stock  raising. 

(52) 


THE  LABOR  ISSUES.  53 

have  those  who  declaimed  most  loudly  against  "  oppres- 
sors," proved  to  be  worse  oppressors  with  a  change  of  con- 
ditions. Socialism,  in  blotting  out  all  individual  liberty, 
would  seem  to  invite  a  harder  slavery  than  it  seeks  to 
escape  from,  for  under  any  compulsory  plan  for  working, 
eating,  sleeping,  clothing  and  living,  it  would  necessarily  be 
subject  to  the  whims  of  a  few  official  dictators  chosen  by 
the  majority. 

Mr.  Bellamy  thus  draws  the  line  between  Socialism  and 
Anarchy  in  this  country  : — 

"  I  should  say  that  the  American  people  are  making  con- 
siderable progress  in  clearing  up  ideas  on  the  socialistic 
question  in  general.  Five  or  six  years  ago  even  intelligent 
people  were  not  ashamed  of  confounding  Anarchism  and 
Socialism.  Few  intelligent  people  would  be  likely  to  fall 
into  that  error  now.  The  present  system  of  society  is  more 
near  to  the  Anarchistic  idea  than  that  which  Socialists 
would  wish  to  see  introduced.  The  root  and  idea  of  Anar- 
chism is  the  abolition  of  governmental  regulation,  or  co-or- 
dination in  collective  interest ;  whereas  it  is  the  aim  of  the 
Socialist  to  bring  about  precisely  that  regulation  and  co-or- 
dination of  industrial  forces  in  a  common  interest — to  pre- 
vent that  is  the  object  of  the  Anarchist. 

"  Two  policies  could  not  be  more  diametrically  opposed 
than  those  of  the  Socialist  and  Anarchist.  People  were 
once  apt  to  class  them  together,  but  I  do  not  think  that  they 
are  likely  to  do  so  now.  That  was  one  of  the  old  blunders. 
It  should  not  escape  attention  that  the  present  Socialistic 
wave  which  is  sweeping  over  the  country  has  its  rise  in  the 
West,  in  those  States  which  are  almost  entirely  populated 
by  the  old  American  stock.  Almost  without  exception 
those  men  and  women  who  have  thus  far  been  prominent  as 
leaders  of  the  various  branches  of  this  movement,  have 


54  THE  LABOR  ISSUES. 

been  American  not  only  by  birth,  but  by  descent  and  tradi- 
tions. There  could  be  no  worse  blunder  or  one  committed 
in  more  complete  disregard  of  the  facts  than  to  fail  to 
recognize  this  distinctively  American  origin  of  what  has 
been  called  American  Socialism." 

But  notwithstanding  his  optimism,  the  question  is  an 
open  one  as  to  whether,  outside  of  the  band  of  honest 
social  theorists,  there  is  not  another  band  composed  of 
ignorant,  unassimilated  alien  elements,  and  of  downright 
lazy  and  vicious  home  elements,  which  is  stranger  to  every 
fraternal  or  unselfish  spirit,  yet  which  finds  encouragement 
for  the  rankest  anarchism  in  the  hopes  raised  by  socialism, 
and  which  would  find  in  the  triumph  of  socialism  its 
coveted  opportunity  for  the  confiscation  and  division  of 
accumulated  wealth,  and  for  the  destruction  of  state  and 
institution.  And  another  question,  almost  as  momentous,  is 
open,  and  that  is  as  to  how  far  socialism,  even  in  its  best 
form,  tends  to  eliminate  from  society  all  the  elements  of 
human  character  and  independent  manhood.  Is  it  not  an 
appeal  to  the  lower  passions  in  that  it  is  wholly  material- 
istic, believing  in  externals  rather  than  in  what  is  inherent  and 
of  the  mind  and  soul.  Every  argument  based  on  the  un- 
equal distribution  of  wealth  touches  a  chord  of  envy  and 
avarice  in  the  bosom  of  the  selfish. 

This  theory  that  all  industrial  conditions  would  be  im- 
proved by  government  tutelage,  leads  to  a  consideration 
of  that  phase  of  control  of  labor  which  has  for  its  object 
the  settlement  of  disputes  by  means  of  governmental  arbi- 
tration. One  of  the  births  of  later  times  has  been  the  the- 
ory that  the  general  Government  should  take  the  issues  be- 
tween labor  and  capital  in  hand  and  dispose  of  them  by 
means  of  "  Compulsory  Arbitration."  Much  as  this  theory 
finds  favor  in  certain  quarters,  it  does  not  commend  itself  to 


THE  tABOR  ISSUES.  55 

the  better  judgment  of  either  labor  or  capital,  and  its  defect 
is  patent  in  the  term  itself,  for  the  arbitrament  that  is  desir- 
able in  all  such  issues,  and  the  only  one  that  can  ever  be 
satisfactory,  is  the  one  that  involves  a  compromise  and 
agreement.  The  word  "  Compulsion "  is  foreign  to  the 
spirit  of  satisfactory  compromise  and  equitable  agreement. 
It  implies,  at  the  start,  an  absolute  surrender  of  personal 
judgment  on  the  part  of  disputants,  a  humiliation  neither 
capital  nor  labor  would  voluntarily  undergo.  It  implies 
again  an  interference  on  the  part  of  strangers  to  disputes 
which  carries  the  confession  that  the  disputants  are  unable 
to  control  their  own  affairs.  Moreover  it  implies  a  power 
on  the  part  of  arbitrators  which  is  despotic,  and  at  variance 
with  the  spirit  of  all  mutual  contract.  "  Compulsory  Arbi- 
tration "  has  all  the  seeds  of  discord  in  its  principle,  and  in 
its  practice  would  prove  to  have  all  the  hardships  of  a 
tyranny. 

In  this  and  all  liberal  governments,  one  principle  must  be 
accorded  and  guaranteed  as  an  essential  corner-stone,  and 
that  is  the  right  of  the  individual  to  freely  contract.  Every 
law  and  custom  which  interferes  with  this  supreme  right  is 
arbitrary  and  tyrannous.  Many  of  the  States  have  within 
the  last  few  years,  and  in  obedience  to  the  demands  of 
labor,  instituted  by  law  a  system  of  arbitration  boards, 
whose  business  is  to  settle  disputes  between  employers  and 
employees.  This  class  of  legislation  may  have  been  insti- 
gated by  a  humanitarian  or  philanthropic  spirit,  and  osten- 
sibly in  the  interest  of  labor,  yet  certainly  at  its  expense,  so 
far  as  its  virility  and  productiveness  depend  on  free  conditions, 
prevailing  confidence  and  general  prosperity.  Labor  can 
create  its  demand  by  its  inducements  to  start  new  enter- 
prises and  enlarge  old  ones.  Intelligent  capital  shrinks  from 
investment  where  the  labor  conditions  invite  to  uncertainty, 


56  THE  LABOR  ISSUES. 

turmoil  and  destruction ;  and  it  shrinks  no  less  from  that 
intolerable  interference  and  friction  caused  by  the  stepping  in 
of  a  State  for  the  purpose  of  construing  its  contracts  and 
establishing  its  rights. 

The  general  plan  and  operation  of  the  arbitration  tribun- 
als in  the  States  that  have  adopted  them  are  similar,  though 
they  differ  in  details.  Perhaps  it  is  too  early  to  say  whether 
they  are  meeting  the  expectations  of  those  who  favored  their 
institution.  They  have,  no  doubt,  served  a  good  purpose 
in  staying  hostility  where  passion  had  gotten  the  better  of 
reason,  but  that  their  arbitraments  have  proved  to  be  any 
more  satisfactory  or  permanent  than  those  otherwise 
brought  about  cannot  be  asserted  with  truth.  They  are,  in 
principle,  such  a  wide  departure  from  established  judicial 
usuages,  and  are,  in  some  States,  so  freely  endowed  with 
power  over  contracts,  as  to  be  regarded  curiously  as  a  nov- 
elty and  studied  seriously  as  an  innovation.  Without  men- 
tioning the  reflection  they  contain  on  the  regular  courts  of 
justice,  which  have  from  time  immemorial  been  relied  on 
to  construe  and  execute  civil  contracts,  one  cannot  withhold 
surprise  at  the  right  reposed  in  some  of  these  tribunals  to 
make  new  contracts  for  parties  disputant,  and  to  fix  prices 
for  them  without  regard  to  the  laws  of  supply  and  demand. 
If  this  right  be  one  of  an  impartial  and  general  kind — and 
unless  it  is  so,  it  is  arbitrary  and  should  not  exist — it  could 
with  equal  propriety  be  extended  to  the  fixing  of  prices  for 
all  labor  products  such  as  food,  clothing,  etc.,  and  so  to  the 
running  _pf  every  kind  of  business.  This  would  surely  be 
paternalism  on  the  cyclone  principle.  It  would  quickly 
banish  every  kind  of  investment  as  well  as  labor  from  a 
State,  and  leave  a  wilderness  behind. 

Until  such  time  as  human  judgment  is  confessedly 
at  a  discount  on  the  part  of  both  employer  and  employee  ; 


THE  LABOR  ISSUES.  57 

until  there  is  such  a  general  failure  of  manhood  independ- 
ence as  to  amount  to  a  confession  of  weakness  and  inability ; 
jit  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  a  plan  of  settlement  of  labor 
issues  which  shall  prove  more  satisfactory  than  "Voluntary 
Arbitration."  This  kind  of  arbitration  means  the  full  exer- 
cise of  judgment  by  both  disputants,  and  implies  no  sur- 
render of  manhood.  In  the  interpretation  and  enforcement 
of  existing  contracts  it  is  cheaper,  speedier  and  often  more 
satisfactory  than  the  regular  processes  of  law.  Voluntary 
arbitration  is  carried  on  by  various  methods,  one  of  which 
is  for  each  side  to  choose  an  arbitrator  from  its  own  num- 
bers, and  the  two  to  choose  a  third.  It  is  easy  to  see  that 
this  method  must  in  its  practical  workings,  prove  far  super- 
ior to  any  "  Compulsory  "  method  or  to  any  system  of  State 
tribunals,  for  it  insures  a  board  of  arbitrators  who  have  ex- 
pert knowledge  of  the  industry  concerned,  which  is  a  matter 
of  great  moment  and  is  not  assured  by  the  compulsory 
boards.  But  even  voluntary  arbitration  is,  according  to 
some  able  writers,  defective  and  dangerous  the  moment  it 
assumes  to  set  a  price  for  the  product  in  question  and  to 
force  that  price  on  unwilling  purchasers  in  defiance  of  the 
general  laws  of  supply  and  demand. 

In  order  that  voluntary  arbitration  may  be  entirely 
effective  it  should  be  conciliatory.  Indeed  it  has  been 
thought  that  "  Conciliators  "  would  be  a  broader  and  better 
word  than  "  Arbitrators,"  as  implying  higher  knowledge  of 
details, .a  larger  spirit  of  concession,  greater  confidence  in 
the  tribunal  and  its  judgments.  The  history  of  labor  issues 
abounds  in  striking  instances  of  the  satisfactory  and  perma- 
nent results  flowing  from  "  Conferences  of  reason,"  wherein 
disputants  have  gathered  in  a  friendly  way  to  frankly  hear 
and  be  heard.  In  such  instances  the  wholesomeness  of  the 
situation  is  improved  by  the  fact  that  each  side  is  not  yet 


58  THE  LABOR  ISSUES. 

stripped  for  a  fray,  as  it  is  when  the  issue  has  gone  into  a 
court  of  justice,  or  been  appealed  to  a  State  board  of  arbi- 
trators. Therefore  the  passions  have  less  to  do  with  results, 
and  the  possibilities  are  greatest  for  the  free  play  of  all  that 
is  voluntary,  friendly,  reasonable  and  fair.  No  issues  appeal 
more  strongly  to  the  combative  element  in  human  nature 
than  those  of  labor,  hence  none  should  be  more  eager  to 
introduce  and  use  the  counteracting  qualities  inherent  in 
heart  and  head,  in  order  that  a  noble  cause  may  stand  forth 
panoplied  in  its  highest  and  best  forms  of  logic  and  reason. 

Among  the  many  solutions  of  labor  issues  no  one  has 
been  the  subject  of  more  profound  study  or  has  been  re- 
ceived with  greater  favor  than  the  principle  of  co-oper- 
ation, or  profit  sharing.  If  it  be  true  that  the  unsympathetic 
hardness  of  the  employer  is  the  seed  of  coercive  unionism, 
the  principle  of  profit  sharing  destroys  that  seed,  for  the 
employer  then  divides  his  mastery  with  the  employee.  If 
it  be  true  that  capital  is  that  monster  which  is  ever  lying  in 
wait  to  devour  helpless  labor,  then  is  the  monster  shorn  of 
strength,  for  it  agrees  to  reciprocate  with  labor  and  offers  to 
share  its  real  or  imaginary  advantages.  On  the  other  hand 
if  labor  be  that  fickle,  uncertain,  heartless  thing,  which  re- 
pels capital  and  forces  it  to  hide  in  a  strong  box,  then  is 
labor,  the  coquette,  invited  to  a  marriage  with  capital  or  at 
least  to  an  intimate  family  friendship. 

Now  the  chief  strength  and  greatest  beauty  of  the  above 
situation  is  that  capital  has  disrobed  itself  of  all  tyranny  and 
selfishness,  and  wholly  met  the  prejudices  and  arguments  of 
labor,  to  the  effect  that  there  is  natural  and  eternal  enmity 
between  it  and  capital.  Again,  labor  confesses  that  its 
dread  of  capital,  and  its  antagonism  to  it,  was  more 
assumed  than  real,  and  that  an  harmonious  alliance 
may  be  not  only  grand  in  principle  but  highly  profitable. 


THE  LABOR  ISSUES.  59 

Thus  whether  labor  and  capital  have  reasoned  backward 
from  their  stubborn  clashes  to  a  rational  beginning,  or 
whether  they  have  both  entirely  circumnavigated  the  world 
of  hostile  organizations,  strikes,  arsons  and  bloodsheds,  they 
are  each  back  to  the  starting  point,  which  is  simply  the  in- 
fallible law  that  in  all  production  the  natural  unit  is  the 
combined  employer  and  employee,  or  the  wedded  labor  and 
capital.  No  matter  which  be  cart  and  which  horse,  the 
hauling  can  be  done  only  when  they  are  hitched  together. 

Just  here  arises  a  thought  which  has  as  much  concern 
for  labor  as  capital.  If  their  interests  are  mutual,  have  not 
their  estrangements  been  mutual  ?  Have  they  not  come 
about  for  causes  beyond  the  control  of  each,  and  is  there 
anything  essentially  unnatural  and  vicious  in  them?  In 
earlier  times,  before  the  era  of  great  factories,  furnaces-  and 
mining  and  railroad  operations,  requiring  capital  so  large  as 
to  be  impossible  without  a  combination  of  purses ;  and  also 
before  the  era  of  guilds  and  unions ;  the  employer  and  em- 
ployee were  close  together,  face  to  face  as  it  were  in  the 
same  workshop.  As  the  combined,  or  corporate  capital 
passed  into  the  hands  of  officers,  or  mere  official  representa- 
tives, the  real  owners  became  further  and  further  removed 
from  the  employees ;  and  as  the  invested  capital  became 
more  and  more  subdivided  in  the  shape  of  shares  of  stock 
and  was  scattered  far  and  wide,  it  easily  came  to  pass  that 
the  entire  capital  of  a  concern  had  no  intimacy  at  all  with 
its  employees.  The  same  system  of  estrangement  went  on 
with  labor.  As  labor  extended  and  became  specialized,  it 
fell  under  the  heads  of  divisions,  or  bosses;  and  it  further 
took  affairs  into  its  own  hands  through  the  unions ;  thus 
gradually  working  its  way  backwards  from  capital,  just  as 
we  have  seen  capital  working  its  way  backwards  from 
labor.  While  there  is  nothing  designed  or  criminal  in  all  this ; 


60  THE  LABOR  ISSUES. 

while,  on  the  contrary,  it  may  be  treated  as  a  normal  ten- 
dency, and  in  no  sense  a  reason  for  bitterness  and  antagon- 
ism between  capital  and  labor,  it  is  none  the  less  a  misfort- 
une, whose  cure  lies  along  the  lines  of  larger  mutual  con- 
sideration. 

As  to  employers,  or  rather  as  to  invested  capital,  it  was 
travelling  on  those  lines  of  mutual  consideration,  or  should 
have  been  doing  so,  when  it  was  face  to  face  with  the  labor 
it  employed.  It  should  be  doing  so  still.  In  the  plan  of 
co-operation,  or  profit  sharing,  may  be  seen  an  attempt  to 
revive  the  ancient  mutuality  between  labor  and  capital, 
or  at  least  the  opportunity  to  do  so.  Whether  this  is 
so  or  not,  it  ought  to  be  clear  to  capital  that  its  duty 
to  labor  is  by  no  means  performed  by  the  payment  of  stipu- 
lated wages.  That  is  a  coldly  business  affair,  or,  more 
liberally,  a  purely  economic  affair.  Labor  represents  a 
noble  cause.  The  cause  of  capital  can  be  no  nobler.  It  is 
for  capital  to  consider  this  cause  apart  from  its  own.  Capi- 
tal, intelligent,  public  spirited,  honorable  capital,  can  never 
afford  to  ignore  those  higher  relations  to  labor  which  in- 
volve the  natural  brotherhood  of  man,  and  the  place  of  the 
individual  in  the  social  economy.  Sheer  wages  are  as  noth- 
ing in  comparison  with  that  pay  which  comes  in  the  shape 
of  sympathy  and  encouragement,  whatever  their  form. 
Labor  means  manhood,  not  mere  machinery.  The  largest 
consideration  capital  can  give  it  in  the  shape  of  moral  sup- 
port is  none  too  good  for  it,  and  this,  capital  should  freely 
extend,  for  it  will  prove  quickly  reflexive,  in  that  it  will  re- 
fine and  exalt  labor,  and  go  far  toward  dispelling  those  illu- 
sions of  estrangement  and  antagonism  which  are  the  ground- 
work of  the  unions,  and  the  sources  of  so  much  tumult, 
violence  and  decreased  production. 

Whether  the  principle  of  profit  sharing  will  ever  realize 


HON.  WILLIAM  J.  BRYAN. 

Born  in  Salem,  111.,  March  19,  1860 ;  graduated  at  Illinois  College, 
1881  ;  attended  Union  Law  College,  Chicago,  two  ye,ars;  admitted  to 
bar,  and  began  practice  in  Jacksonville;  moved  to  Lincoln,  Neb, 
'  >ctober  1,  1887,  and  continued  profession ;  elected  to  Fifty-second 
Congress,  as  a  Democrat,  by  a  majority  of  6713,  in  a  district  which  two 
years  before  gave  over  3400  Republican  majority ;  an  able  constitutional 
lawyer;  rose  to  immediate  prominence  in  the  House  by  eloquent  advocacy 
of  free  silver  coinage  and  the  principles  of  tariff  reduction  and  reform ; 
favors  election  of  U.  S.  Senators  by  the  people,  and  revenue  by  means 
of  an  income  tax  ;  sympathizes  with  the  masses  who  have  been  neglected 
in  legislation;  poprlar  with  his  party  and  in  his  community. 


THE  LABOR  ISSUES.  63 

all  that  is  claimed  for  it  by  its  advocates  remains,  in  great 
part,  to  be  proved.  But  its  successes,  where  faithfully 
tried,  warrant  economists  in  asserting  that  it  is  the  most 
promising  of  all  known  agencies  at  direct  command  for  the 
solution  of  labor  issues.  One  of  the  earliest  and  most  not- 
able examples  of  its  success  was  given  some  fifty  years  ago 
by  a  French  employer  named  Leclair.  After  suffering  from 
discontent,  suspicion  and  antagonism  among  his  employees, 
he  called  around  him  some  forty-four  of  the  most  faithful  of 
them,  and  distributed  to  them  fifty  dollars  each,  as  a  share  of 
profits.  As  soon  as  the  men  saw  they  had  an  added  inter- 
est in  the  prosperity  of  their  employer,  they  became  faithful 
to  every  requirement  and  performed  each  duty  more  care- 
fully and  faithfully.  The  successors  to  M.  Leclair  continue 
the  principle  of  profit  sharing  to  this  day.  At  present 
more  than  two  hundred  firms  in  Europe  are  successfully 
operating  on  the  profit  sharing  plan.  Quite  a  large  number 
of  American  firms  have  introduced  the  principle,  in  one  form 
and  another,  and  with  entire  satisfaction,  where  the  requisite 
amount  of  study  and  good  faith  entered  into  the  substruct- 
ure. Says  a  learned  writer  : — "  Profit  sharing  is  in  full  ac- 
cord with  both  social  and  economic  laws.  It  embodies  a 
spirit  that  will  furnish  the  key  to  labor  troubles.  Its  de- 
nunciation by  niggardly  and  short-sighted  employers,  on 
the  one  hand,  or  by  selfish  professional  agitators  on  the 
other,  cannot  shake  it,  for  it  is  founded  on  justice  and  hu- 
manity. Unselfishness  should  be  the  motive  of  the  employer, 
but  even  from  the  lower  standpoint  to  share  profits  is  to  in- 
crease them." 

As  this  principle  of  profit  sharing  involves  all  the  usual 
business  relations  between  capital  and  labor,  as  well  as  those 
which  are  social  and  moral ;  and  as  it  imposes  on  the  em- 
ployer the  additional  duties  just  mentioned;  so  it  may  be 


64  THE  LABOR  ISSUES. 

said  to  demand  of  the  employee  reciprocal  duties  and  obliga- 
tions, in  exact  proportion  to  the  enlarged  privileges  it  con- 
fers. These  privileges  and  obligations  have  been  made  a 
study  by  many  economists,  but  none  of  them  have 
set  them  forth  so  ably  and  tersely  as  Mr.  Henry  Wood  in 
his  "Political  Economy  of  Natural  Law."  He  says: — 
The  prevailing  spirit  of  the  times  tends  to  make  the  em- 
ployee regard  his  employer  with  some  degree  of  jealousy 
if  not  antagonism.  Such  a  feeling  is  both  morally  and  eco- 
nomically unprofitable.  The  employer  is  the  natural  sup- 
plement of  the  employee  in  production,  and  besides,  no  one 
else  is  in  position  to  do  so  much  for  him.  Deprived  of  the 
co-operation  of  his  employer's  talent,  capital  and  executive 
ability,  the  employee  is  weak  and  incomplete.  No  man  can 
afford  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  his  productive  partner,  nor  to 
antagonize  the  very  things  which  are  in  the  line  of  his  laud- 
able ambition.  Without  employers  there  could  be  no  em- 
ployees. The  theory  that  production  is  solely  the  result  of 
physical  labor,  as  urged  by  some  socialistic  agitators,  is 
unmitigated  fallacy.  If  material  force  be  all  that  is  required, 
then  steam,  electricity,  horses,  mules,  and  even  water-power 
should  receive  the  main  credit,  leaving  the  human  element 
quite  unimportant.  Matter  can  never  bear  comparison  with 
mind,  nor  a  mountain  with  a  man.  A  high  order  of  execu- 
tive talent  is  more  rare  than  a  corresponding  quality  of 
muscle,  and  therefore  it  always  brings  a  higher  price. 
Its  superior  value  is  not  due  to  fashion  or  fancy  but  to  de- 
mand. The  worth  of  muscle  also  depends  upon  the  quality 
of  mind  mixed  with  it.  To  lay  brick  requires  a  larger  percent- 
age of  mind  than  to  dig  ditches,  and  therefore  readily  brings 
a  higher  price.  By  the  socialistic  theory  that  the  value  of 
products  should  be  abstractly  estimated  by  the  number  of 
"  labor  hours  "  put  into  them,  the  expert  is  no  better  than 


THE  LABOR  ISSUES.  65 

the  ignoramus,  and  the  latter  might  as  well  remain  what  he 
is.  Under  free  conditions  natural  law  never  makes  a  mis- 
take in  weighing  values. 

"  Education,  moral,  economic  and  technical,  is  the  great 
need  of  the  wage  worker.  These  furnish  the  only  solid 
basis  for  wages  and  their  increase.  Obstruction  and  friction 
invariably  tend  to  their  diminution.  Real  education  is  not 
the  education  of  a  certain  amount  of  "  book  learning,"  but 
the  art  of  fitting  well  for  present  and  prospective  duties.  It 
is  entering  upon  a  road  which  always  leads  higher. 

"  Evolution  is  a  universal  law ;  but  if  one  waits  for  it  to 
push  him  from  behind,  he  advances  slowly  and  with  friction. 
Attracted  from  before,  he  makes  rapid  progress.  Excel- 
lence, as  an  ideal,  furnishes  an  ever-present  stimulus.  If 
one  does  his  best,  it  does  not  so  much  matter  where  in  the 
great  field  of  human  effort  he  may  be  to  day,  for  he  will 
soon  leave  the  locality  behind  him.  Some  one  may  suggest 
that  opportunities  are  important,  but  they  are  largely 
made,  not  found.  '  Luck '  comes  to  those  who  win  it. 
Chance  appears  upon  the  surface,  but  a  deeper  view  shows 
that  all  success  comes  by  law.  A  trade,  profession  or 
character  is  like  an  edifice ;  every  brick  must  be  put  in  its 
place,  and  it  will  not  get  there  by  luck. 

"  Work  is  not  a  curse  or  a  thing  to  be  avoided.  Rightly 
regarded,  it  is  education  and  development.  To  count  it  as 
drudgery  is  to  gratuitously  make  and  extract  a  slavish  in- 
fluence from  it.  Looked  upon  as  an  education  and  step- 
ping stone,  it  is  refined  and  ennobled,  and  this  even  if  it  be 
low  conventionally  in  grade.  To  idealize  one's  present  vo- 
cation is  to  prepare  for  a  higher  and  more  profitable  one. 
Work  is  not  to  be  dodged,  but  transformed  into  develop- 
ment. The  man  must  lift  his  effort,  and  not  allow  it  to  be- 
come merely  mechanical.  One's  attitude  toward  it  deter- 


66  THE  LABOR  ISSUES. 

mines  what  it  is — to  him.  It  also  indicates  whether  or  not 
he  will  advance  to  the  rank  of  employer. 

"  The  employee  naturally  and  rightly  wants  increased 
wages ;  and,  through  Natural  Law,  the  only  road  to  them 
is  to  earn  more  and  better.  If  he  gets  them  through  the 
seeming  short  cut  of  coercion  or  organized  pressure,  they 
will  soon  slip  back. 

"It  is  often  supposed  that  employers  might  pay  whatever 
wages  they  please,  regardless  of  the  market ;  but  competi- 
tive relations  in  innumerable  directions  do  not  permit  it, 
and  general  competitive  laws  are  as  indispensable  to  wage 
workers  as  to  society  at  large.  If  labor  unions,  instead  of 
limiting  apprenticeship  and  encouraging  idleness — under  the 
delusive  theory  that  the  total  amount  of  work  to  be  done  is 
limited  and  fixed — would  educate  their  members,  there 
would  soon  be  enough  for  all  to  do. 

"  General  economic  confidence  can  only  exist  upon  an 
adequate  foundation.  It  especially  requires  a  sound  cur- 
rency, an  unwavering  tariff,  whether  high  or  low,  and,  most 
of  all,  harmonious  labor  conditions.  With  this  combina- 
tion, employment  for  every  one  who  desired  it  would  be 
sure  and  remunerative.  Things  to  be  done  would  multiply 
faster  than  hands  to  do  them. 

"  With  but  rare  exceptions,  the  most  eminent  and  suc- 
cessful business  men  of  America  started  in  active  life  as 
wage  workers,  and  their  secret  is  that  in  every  position  they 
did  their  best.  This  was  their  self  education,  and  education 
is  capital.  Even  when  underpaid  that  kind  of  capital  is 
always  augmenting.  However  much  specious  theories  may 
prevail,  as  to  short  hours,  lessened  production,  limited  ap- 
prenticeship, and  much  leisure,  merit  will  always  remain  the 
sole  basis  of  value  for  service," 


HON.  MATTHEW  C.  BUTLER. 

Born  near  Greenville,  S.  C.,  March  8,  1836  ;  educated  at  South  Caro 
Una  College  ;  admitted  to  Edgefield  bar,  1857 ;  elected  to  South  Caro- 
lina Legislature,  1860;  served  as  Major-General  in  Confederate  army 
and  lost  right  leg  in  battle ;  elected  to  South  Carolina  Legislature,  1866 ; 
candidate  for  Lieutenant-Governor,  1870 ;  elected  United  States  Senator, 
1876 ;  re-elected,  1882  and  1889 ;  chairman  of  Commitlee  on  Five 
Civilized  Tribes  of  Indians  and  member  of  Committees  on  Foreign  Re- 
lations, Naval  Affairs,  Congressional  Library  and  University  of  United 
Stales. 

(67) 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 

FREE-TRADE  exists  only  in  theory.  There  is  no  actual 
free-trade  in  all  the  world. 

Those  who  ground  their  arguments  on  the  abstract  doc- 
trine of  free-trade  are  free-traders. 

Those  who  admit  the  necessity  or  propriety  of  a  tariff  for 
revenue  only  are  free-traders.  All  the  political  economists 
of  the  free-trade  school — Adam  Smith,  Mill,  Ricardo,  Say, 
List,  Laveieye,  Wells,  Wayland — say  that  a  government  has 
a  right  to  levy  a  tax  for  its  support,  and  that  the  tariff  is  the 
least  onerous  and  easiest  collected  tax. 

A  tariff  for  revenue  with  incidental  protection  begins  to 
draw  the  line  between  the  free-trader  and  the  protectionist. 

A  "  Tariff  Reformer  "  is  either  an  outright  free-trader,  or 
a  believer  in  a  revenue  tariff  with  incidental  protection.  He 
may  be  none  the  less  a  protectionist. 

Politics  confuse  these  terms.  American  politics  are  espe- 
cially loose  respecting  them.  We  change  both  theories  and 
terms  with  the  rapidity  of  a  new  and  enterprising  country. 

In  England  "  free-trade  "  and  "  free-trader  "  carry  no  re- 
proach. The  meaning  of  the  terms  is  understood,  as  well 
as  the  doctrine. 

In  political  economy  there  is  no  doubt  about  terms.  The 
free-trader  and  protectionist  are  what  they  profess  to  be. 

The  early  economic  writers  were  mostly  free-traders. 
Protection,  which  all  nations  practiced,  did  not  seem  to  ad- 
mit of  theories  or  encourage  a  literature. 

It  is  well  to  understand  that  the  astounding  revelations  in 
connection  with  the  development  of  the  United  States  have 
4  (69) 


70  DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 

shaken  all  the  old  theories  respecting  free-trade  and  protcc 
tion,  and  made  a  new  political  economy  possible,  if  not 
necessary. 

A  primary  law  of  political  economy  is  that  an  increase 
of  the  productiveness  of  the  country  implies  an  increase  of 
its  capital.  No  law  can  create  capital. 

A  second  law  is  that  productiveness  depends  on  the  num- 
ber of  laborers.  Legislation  cannot  create  men. 

A  third  law  is  that  productiveness  depends  on  the  stim- 
ulus to  labor.  Protection  changes  only  the  mode  of  labor. 
If  it  attracts  manufacturers,  it  repels  agriculturalists,  and, 
vice  versa.  What  it  pays  as  a  stimulus  to  one  industry  it 
subtracts  from  another.  Hence  there  is  no  gain  to  labor 
as  a  whole. 

Protection  increases  the  price  of  an  article.  As  price  in- 
creases, demand  diminishes.  The  less  an  article  is  wanted, 
the  less  it  will  be  produced.  The  demand  for  labor  dimin- 
ishes. The  price  of  labor  diminishes.  The  stimulus  to 
labor  is  decreased. 

The  watchword  of  free-traders,  or  freedom  of  exchange, 
is  Laissez  faire  ;  laissez  passer  :  "  leave  it  alone."  This  is 
nature.  Allow  every  one  to  buy  and  sell  where  he  can  do 
so  most  advantageously,  whether  in  or  out  of  his  own 
country. 

Revenue  from  customs  on  foreign  goods  may  be  per- 
mitted by  the  doctrine  of  laissez  faire,  but  it  is  a  tax,  and  a 
bad  one. 

To  establish  duties  under  the  pretext  of  protecting 
national  industries  is  an  iniquitous  measure  fatal  to  the  gen- 
eral interests. 

By  forcing  a  consumer  to  buy  at  a  higher  price  than  he 
would  have  otherwise,  or  elsewhere,  to  pay,  is  to  perpetrate 
the  injustice  of  taxing  one  class  for  the  benefit  of  another. 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE.  71 

Political  economy  draws  no  distinction  between  classes. 
So,  if  it  be  said  that  protection  by  means  of  tariff  duties  has 
for  its  purpose  the  favor  of  labor,  it  favors  a  class,  none  the 
less. 

True  industrial  economy  aims  not  to  increase  but  dimin- 
ish labor.  If,  with  what  I  can  earn  in  one  day,  I  can  buy  a 
yard  of  cloth  from  a  foreigner,  why  force  me  to  spend  two 
days'  labor  for  the  same  ? 

An  injury  is  done  to  humanity  by  a  system  which  forces 
men  into  manufactories.  The  custom  house  snatches  men, 
women  and  children  from  open  air  tasks,  and  chains  them 
in  gloomy  workshops  for  twelve  to  fourteen  hours  out  of 
twenty-four. 

Free-trade  applies  to  whole  peoples  the  principle  of  the 
division  of  labor,  assures  them  all  that  such  principle  can 
bestow,  and  thereby  enhances  their  welfare. 

When  each  is  employed  at  what  he  can  do  best,  the  indi- 
vidual shares  are  greatest. 

When  each  is  compelled  by  legislation  to  do  what  he  must, 
and  what  he  may  not  have  aptitude  for,  the  aggregate  of 
labor  will  not  be  so  great,  and  the  individual  will  be  worse 
off. 

So  when  each  country  or  nation  fails  to  devote  its  ener- 
gies to  what  nature  most  favors,  it  will  not  bring  to  market 
the  maximum  obtained  by  the  minimum  of  toil,  but  the  re- 
sults of  a  diminished  productivity. 

No  man  can  be  so  self-sufficient  as  to  confine  himself  to 
the  manufacture  of  his  food,  clothing,  furniture,  books,  etc. 
The  nation  is  no  better  off  than  the  man. 

Protection  obliges  me  to  grow  wheat,  without  reference 
to  soil.  But  in  nature  my  soil  may  be  sandy,  and  I  could 
better  afford  to  raise  something  else  in  exchange  for  wheat, 
which  grows  better  on  my  neighbor's  clay  soil. 


72  DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 

Commerce  is  always  an  exchange  of  produce  against  pro- 
duce. So  much  exported,  so  much  imported.  Therefore 
the  foreigner  cannot  inundate  us  with  goods.  The  differ- 
ent countries  cannot  sell  more  than  they  buy. 

Industrial  progress  begets  competition.  Don't  limit  it  at 
the  confines  of  a  state  or  nation.  The  widest  competition 
is  the  most  universal  profit.  Monopoly  means  sloth  ;  pro- 
tection, routine.  The  manufacturer  who  is  forced  to  keep 
hold  of  the  home  market  will  conquer  the  world. 

A  railroad  uniting  two  countries  facilitates  exchanges ; 
customs  dues  impede  them. 

Free-trade  has  for  its  object  the  diminution  of  labor. 
Machinery  has  the  same  object.  Protection,  therefore, 
should  demand  the  abolition  of  machinery,  in  order  to  be 
consistent. 

Capital  turns  spontaneously  to  the  most  lucrative  employ- 
ment. Protection  turns  it  to  the  less  lucrative,  and  seeks  to 
make  up  the  difference  by  a  tax  on  consumers. 

The  argument  that  a  country  should  be  independent  of 
foreigners  in  time  of  war  is  of  no  avail  in  this  era  of  easy 
and  ready  transportation.  Neutral  ships  may  transport  the 
goods  of  belligerents.  The  blockade  of  a  nation  is  impos- 
sible. 

The  doctrine  of  free-trade,  like  that  of  protection,  is 
oftentimes  best  sustained  by  attacking  and  exploding  the 
theories  of  the  adversary. 

Modern  politics,  especially  the  politics  of  a  free  country 
like  that  of  the  United  States,  are  prolific  of  arguments  and 
phrases  which  greatly  affect  the  stereotyped  theories  of  free- 
trade  and  protection. 

Hence,  having  passed  from  the  ascertained  laws  of  free- 
trade,  as  found  in  the  books,  and  as  built  on  the  experience 
of  foreign  countries,  on  monarchical  conditions,  and  on  a 


HON.   DON  M.   DICKINSON. 

Born  in  Port  Ontario,  Oswego  co.,  N.  Y.,  January  17,  1847 ;  gradu- 
ated at  University  of  Michigan,  1867  ;  studied  law  and  admitted  to  bar  ; 
rose  rapidly  to  distinction  in  his  profession  and  acquired  a  large  prac- 
tice; Chairman  of  Michigan  State  Democratic  Committee  in  1876,  and 
1880  Chairman  of  Michigan  Delegation  in  National  Convention ;  repre- 
sented Michigan  in  Democratic  National  Committee  since  1884;  ap- 
pointed by  President  Cleveland  to  be  Postmaster- General,  January  17, 
1888 ;  an  able  official  and  popular  party  leader. 

(74) 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE.  75 

geography,  climatology  and  sociology  different  from  our 
own,  there  is  opportunity  for  new  laws  founded  on  different 
natural  and  commercial  conditions.  This  also  gives  free 
play  to  the  doctrines  respecting  protection. 

Bearing  this  in  mind,  we  are  prepared  for  opinions  and 
assertions  which  have  weight  in  free  discussion,  but  which 
are  somewhat  removed  from  the  seriousness  and  weight  of 
fortified  laws. 

These  are  none  the  less  worthy  of  consideration,  for  even 
if  there  is  no  economic  law  back  of  them,  they  may  fore- 
shadow truths  which  experience  will  ripen  into  economic 
axiom.  As  other  nations,  less  expansive  than  ours,  less 
liberally  endowed  by  nature,  and  altogether  less  advanced 
in  industrial  and  commercial  knowledge  and  opportunity, 
have  formulated  economic  laws,  which  are  quoted  with 
favor  and  accepted  as  final,  so  this  nation  may  well  assume 
to  ascertain  what  is  best  for  itself,  and  to  givts  its  conclu- 
sions the  form  of  economic  axiom. 

In  this  point  of  view  the  American  political  economist 
becomes  an  impressive  and  invaluable  economist,  and  the 
passionate  wisdom  of  the  partisan  something  which  is  crude 
quartz  to  the  view,  yet  with  crystals  of  gold  inside. 

As  instances,  the  protectionist  is  challenged  for  reply  by 
the  declaration  that  the  system  of  protection  is  sustained 
by  the  co-operation  of  its  beneficiaries,  and  that  they  are 
held  together  by  the  "  cohesive  power  of  public  plunder." 

Similarly,  by  the  declaration  that  the  tariff  is  a  tax  upon 
the  consumer,  and  that,  especially,  when  imposed  on  raw 
materials.  Ten  cents  a  pound  upon  wool  means  that  the 
consumer  will  have  to  pay  that  much  more  for  the  cloth 
made  of  that  pound. 

So,  when  a  tariff  is  declared  to  be  vicious  in  principle 


76  DOCtRlNE   OF  FREE-TRADE. 

that  seeks  to  perpetuate  high  rates.  Hamilton  is  quoted, 
in  1791 : 

"  The  continuance  of  bounties  on  manufactures  long  es- 
tablished must  always  be  of  questionable  policy;  because  a 
presumption  would  arise  in  every  such  case  that  there  were 
natural  and  inherent  impediments  to  success." 

Clay  is  quoted,  in  1833  : 

"  The  theory  of  protection  supposes,  too,  that  after  a  cer- 
tain time  the  protected  arts  will  have  acquired  such  strength 
and  perfection  as  will  enable  them,  subsequently,  unaided 
to  stand  against  foreign  competition." 

The  theory  that  a  tariff  protects  labor  by  furnishing  it 
employment  is  the  old  theory  of  "  the  maximum  of  toil 
and  the  minimum  of  profit,"  whereas  the  true  economic 
theory  is  "  the  minimum  of  toil  and  the  maximum  of  profit." 

A  tariff  favors  a  class  and  tends  to  monopolies  and  the 
formation  of  trusts,  with  power  to  regulate  prices  and  bur- 
den consumers. 

A  protective  tariff  and  protective  policy  is  not  such  a 
public  policy  as  needs  to  be  supported  by  the  people  at 
large.  The  principle  and  fact  are  denied  that  protection  of 
in  article  by  levying  a  duty  on  it  tends  to  cheapen  the  price 
of  the  article,  after  its  manufacture  has  been  established. 

To  defend  protection  is  to  justify  the  taking  of  one  man's 
money  and  putting  it  in  another's  pocket. 

The  tariff  that  looks  to  the  protection  of  labor  really  in- 
jures labor  when  it  leads  to  the  production  of  articles  in 
this  country  cheaper  than  abroad. 

Gladstone  defends  free-trade  on  moral  grounds — the  com- 
mercial doing  as  you  would  wish  to  be  done  by. 

Patrick  Henry  said  : 

"  Commerce  should  be  as  free  as  the  winds  of  heaven  ;  a 
restricted  commerce  is  like  a  man  in  chains,  crippled  in  all 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE.  TJ 

his  movements  and  bowed  to  the  earth ;  but  let  him  twist 
the  fetters  from  his  legs  and  he  stands  erect." 

Protection  has  invoked  many  wars  and  rebellions.  The 
head-spring  of  the  American  Revolution  was  the  Naviga- 
tion Act,  an  English  system  of  protection  which  sacrificed 
to  English  monopoly  the  natural  rights  of  her  colonies. 

In  keeping  with  the  Navigation  Act  were  other  English 
laws  suppressing  important  manufactures  as  well  as  internal 
trade  in  the  colonies.  In  the  land  of  the  beaver  no  man 
could  be  a  hatter  unless  he  had  served  seven  years  as  an 
apprentice  at  the  trade.  No  American  hat  could  be  sent 
out  of  one  province  into  another.  Steel  furnaces,  plating 
forges  and  slitting  mills  were  prohibited  as  nuisances.  Lord 
Chatham  said  that  in  a  certain  contingency  he  would  pro- 
hibit the  manufacture  in  the  American  Colonies  of  even  so 
much  as  a  horseshoe  or  a  hobnail.  Lord  Sheffield  declared 
that  the  only  use  England  had  for  the  American  Colonies 
was  "  the  monopoly  of  their  consumption  and  the  carriage 
of  their  produce."  These  violations  of  natural  law  worked 
their  own  overthrow,  and  the  mother  jountry  lost  the 
brightest  jewel  in  her  crown.  This  event  led  England  to 
re-examine  her  commercial  system  and  to  adopt  the  policy 
of  free-trade. 

Adam  Smith  completed  his  great  work,  "  Nature  and 
Causes  of  the  Wealth  of  Nations,"  the  very  year  America 
declared  her  independence,  1776. 

In  1817,  when  Parliament  repealed  the  duty  on  salt,  the 
agents  of  the  salt  monopolies  plead  for  a  prohibitory  duty 
on  it.  "Thus  fell,"  says  Thomas  H.  Benton,  "an  odious, 
impious  and  criminal  tax." 

"  The  leaven  of  free-trade  principles  continued  to  work 
in  England  under  the  wise  and  skilful  supervision  of  Rich- 


78  DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 

ard  Cobden,  and  reached  its  culminating  triumph  in  the  re- 
peal of  the  Corn  Laws  in  1846." — Richard  Hawley. 

In  1842  England  exported  goods  to  the  amount  of  $570,- 
000,000,  and  in  1865  to  the  amount  of  $1,815,000,000.  In 
the  same  time  her  imports  rose  from  $326,000,000  to  $909,- 
000,000.  In  1842  the  number  of  articles  subject  to  duty 
was  1,150;  in  1870  only  43  articles  were  subject  to  duty, 
and  the  duty  was  not  protective.  Yet  her  revenue  from 
customs  was  about  the  same  in  1870  as  in  1842.  She  now 
levies  duty  only  on  about  a  dozen  articles,  such  as  tea,  coffee, 
tobacco,  spirits,  wines,  etc. 

Hon.  David  A.  Wells  makes  an  argument  for  free-trade, 
or  free  exchange,  thus  : — "  Population  in  the  United  States 
increased  from  1860  to  1870,  22.2  per  cent.  The  products 
of  our  manufactures  increased  in  the  same  period  52  per 
cent.  This  tendency  of  manufacturing  products  to  increase 
faster  than  population  gluts  our  home  markets  and  shows 
the  necessity  for  larger  and  freer  commerce." 

"  There  is  no  nation,"  says  he,  "  or  country,  er  commu- 
nity, nor  probably  any  one  man,  that  is  not,  by  reason  of 
differences  in  soil,  climate,  physical  or  mental  capacities,  at 
advantage  or  disadvantage  as  respects  some  other  nation, 
country,  community  or  men  in  producing  or  doing  some- 
thing useful.  It  is  only  a  brute,  furthermore,  as  economists 
have  long  recognized,  that  can  find  a  full  satisfaction  for  its 
desires  in  its  immediate  surroundings;  while  poor  indeed 
must  be  the  man  of  civilization  that  does  not  lay  every 
quarter  of  the  globe  under  contribution  every  morning  for 
his  breakfast.  Hence — springing  out  of  this  diversity  in  the 
powers  of  production,  and  of  wants  in  respect  to  locations 
and  individuals — the  origin  of  trade.  Hence  its  necessity 
and  advantage ;  and  the  man  who  has  not  sufficient  educa- 
tion to  read  the  letters  of  any  printed  book  perceives  by 


HON.  RUSSELL  A.   ALOER. 

Born  in  Medina  co.,  Ohio,  February  27,  1836 ;  educated  at  Richheld 
Academy;  studied  law  and  admitted  to  bar,  1859;  enlisted,  August, 
1861,  as  Captain  in  2d  Michigan  Cavalry;  wounded  and  a  prisoner, 
1862;  Colonel  of  the  6th  Michigan  Cavalry,  1863;  brevetted  Brigadier, 
1864 ;  after  war,  moved  to  Detroit ;  engaged  in  lumber  business ;  be- 
came head  of  two  extensive  lumber  companies;  owner  of  large  pine 
lands ;  delegate  to  Chicago  Convention  in  1884 ;  elected  Governor  of 
Michigan,  as  a  Republican,  1884;  conspicuous  candidate  for  President 
in  National  Republican  Convention  of  1888;  received  142  votes  on  5th 
ballot ;  name  prominently  coupled  with  the  nomination  ifi  1892 ;  a  ready, 
perspicuous  orator,  and  popular  party  leader  in  the  Northwest. 


HON.  ADUAI  K.  S 
(80 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE.  83 

instinct,  more  clearly,  as  a  general  rule,  than  the  man  of 
civilization,  that  if  he  can  trade  freely,  he  can  better  his  con- 
dition and  increase  the  sum  of  his  happiness ;  for  the  first 
thing  the  savage,  when  brought  in  contact  with  civilized 
man,  wants  to  do,  is  to  exchange ;  and  the  first  effort  of 
every  new  settlement  in  any  new  country,  after  providing 
temporary  food  and  shelter,  is  to  open  a  road  or  other  means 
of  communication  to  some  other  settlement,  in  order  that 
they  may  trade  or  exchange  the  commodities  which  they 
can  produce  to  advantage,  for  the  products  which  some 
others  can  produce  to  greater  advantage.  And,  obeying 
this  same  natural  instinct,  the  heart  of  every  man,  that  has 
not  been  filled  with  prejudice  of  race  or  country,  or  per- 
verted by  talk  about  the  necessity  of  tariffs  and  custom- 
houses, experiences  a  pleasurable  emotion  when  it  learns 
that  a  new  road  has  been  opened,  a  new  railroad  constructed, 
or  that  the  time  of  crossing  the  seas  has  been  greatly  short- 
ened; and  if  to-day  it  could  be  announced  that  the  problem 
of  aerial  navigation  had  been  solved,  and  that  hereafter 
everybody  could  go  everywhere,  with  all  their  goods  and 
chattels,  for  one-tenth  of  the  cost  and  in  one-tenth  of  the 
time  that  is  now  required,  one  universal  shout  of  jubilation 
would  arise  spontaneously  from  the  whole  civilized  world. 
And  why?  Simply  because  everybody  would  feel  that 
there  would  be  forthwith  a  multitude  of  new  wants,  an  equal 
multitude  of  new  satisfactions,  an  increase  of  business  in 
putting  wants  and  satisfactions  into  the  relations  of  equa- 
tions in  which  one  side  would  balance  the  other,  and  an  in- 
crease of  comfort  and  happiness  everywhere." 

"All  trade,"  he  says,  "  is  at  the  bottom  a  matter  of  barter; 
product  being  given  for  product  and  service  for  service; 
that  in  order  to  sell  we  must  buy,  and  in  order  to  buy  we  must 
sell ;  and  that  he  who  won't  buy  can't  sell,  and  he  who  won't 


*4  DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 

sell  can't  buy.  .  .  .  The  United  States,  for  now  a  long  series 
of  years,  has,  in  its  fiscal  policy,  denied  or  ignored  the  truth 
of  the  above  economic,  axiomatic  principles.  It  has  not, 
indeed,  in  so  many  distinct  words  said  to  the  American  pro- 
ducers and  laborers,  You  shall  not  sell  your  products  and 
your  labor  to  the  people  of  other  countries ;  but  it  has  em- 
phatically said  to  the  producers  and  laborers  of  other  coun- 
tries, We  do  not  think  it  desirable  that  you  should  sell  your 
products  or  your  labor  in  this  country ;  and,  as  far  as  we  can 
interpose  legal  obstructions,  we  don't  intend  that  you  shall ! 
But  in  shutting  others  out,  we  have  at  the  same  time,  and 
necessarily,  shut  ourselves  in.  And  herein  is  trouble  No.  \. 
The  house  is  too  small,  measured  by  the  power  of  producing, 
for  those  that  live  in  it.  And  remedy  No.  i  is  to  be  found 
in  withdrawing  the  bolts,  taking  off  the  locks,  opening  the 
doors,  and  getting  out  and  clear  of  all  restrictions  on  pro- 
ducing and  the  disposal  of  products." 

Mr.  Wells  illustrates  his  theory  by  the  failure  of  the 
United  States  to  compete  with  England  for  the  trade  of 
Chili,  Argentine  and  other  countries.  For  though  we  could 
place  our  cotton  manufactures  in  those  countries  as  cheaply 
as  England  could,  we  refused  to  take  their  products  freely 
in  turn,  or  except  by  first  imposing  a  duty  on  them.  The 
position  assumed  by  Mr.  Wells  that  "  all  trade  is  at  the  bot- 
tom a  matter  of  barter,"  ignores,  in  part,  the  function  of 
money  in  the  making  of  exchanges.  He  was  answered 
thus  by  a  "  Protection  "  writer : 

"  The  function  of  money,  or  its  representatives,  is  that  of 
enabling  indirect  exchanges  to  be  made.  The  shoemaker 
buys  his  cabbages  from  one  man  and  sells  his  shoes  to  an- 
other. Trade,  in  place  of  being  a  right  line  between  two 
points,  becomes,  so  to  speak,  triangular  and  polygonal. 

"This  applies  pre-eminently  to  nations,  which  are  aggre 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE.  85 

gations  of  individuals,  each  of  whom  acts  according  to  his 
individual  interest,  in  place  of  being,  as  Mr.  Wells  assumes, 
units  actuated  by  a  common  purpose,  and  asking,  before 
they  buy  a  yard  of  calico,  whether  a  half-pound  of  copper 
regulus  will  be  taken  in  barter.  If  a  Chilian  merchant  can 
buy  a  salable  bale  of  Fall  River  cloths  cheaper  than  a  simi- 
lar bale  from  Manchester,  he  will  not  reject  it  because  the 
Fall  River  mill  cannot  buy  Chilian  copper.  He  knows  that 
the  copper  will  be  sold  to  Swansea,  and  that  the  resulting 
bill  of  exchange  on  London  will  settle  his  debt  at  Fall 
River  as  readily  as  at  Manchester.  He  knows,  moreover, 
that  if  he  patriotically  refuses  to  buy  the  Fall  River  goods, 
his  competitor  across  the  street  will  do  so  and  will  under- 
sell him.  All  this  is  the  A  B  C  of  trade,  and  no  pathetic 
groaning  over  the  55,000,000  yards  of  cotton  supplied  by 
England,  in  comparison  with  the  5,000,000  yards  supplied 
by  the  United  States  in  1874,  will  get  rid  of  it." 

Again,  Mr.  Wells'  attention  was  called  to  the  fact  that 
the  removal  of  restrictions  on  trade,  which  restrictions  are 
occasioned  by  the  imposition  of  duties,  did  not  in  fact  tend 
to  make  countries  buy  of  the  United  States,  even  though 
the  United  States  was  their  best  customer.  Thus,  in  1876, 
as  an  instance,  the  United  States  bought  of  Brazil  coffee 
and  India  rubber,  on  which  no  duties  were  levied,  to  the 
amount  of  $44,000,000,  and  sent  in  turn  only  $7,500,000  of 
her  own  products.  This  state  of  affairs  Mr.  Wells  ascribes 
to  the  absence  of  shipping  facilities  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States,  which  absence  he  accounts  for  by  reason  of 
the  same  mistaken  fiscal  and  commercial  policy  he  had 
been  speaking  against. 

Free-traders  deny  that  protection  tends  to  keep  up  the 
price  of  labor.  Germany  and  France  demand  high  duties 
in  order  to  protect  their  ill-paid  laborers  from  competition 


86  DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 

with  the  better  paid  labor  of  England.  Therefore,  low 
wages  do  not  enable  a  country  to  compete  with  another 
country.  As  to  this  country,  such  are  the  advantages  of 
combined  capital  and  labor  that  the  workmen  are  capable 
of  a  larger  output  than  in  other  countries,  arid  this  enables 
the  employer  to  afford  them  better  wages.  The  general 
high  rate  of  wages  with  us  is  due  to  the  productiveness  of 
labor,  or,  in  other  words,  to  the  energy  and  efficiency  of 
our  laborers,  the  extended  use  of  machinery  and  our  great 
natural  resources. 

Prof.  Taussig  lays  down  the  doctrine  that  it  is  wrong  to 
limit  duties  to  articles  which  can  be  produced  in  this  coun- 
try. Many  of  such  articles,  such  as  wool,  iron  and  silks, 
are  in  the  nature  of  raw  material  and  enter  into  the  manu- 
facture of  other  articles.  Tea,  coffee  and  sugar  are  entered 
free  of  duty.  A  duty  on  these  would  have  no  such  effect 
as  a  duty  on  iron,  namely,  that  of  turning  the  industry  of 
the  country  into  unproductive  channels.  If  revenue  must 
be  raised  by  duties  on  imports,  those  duties  should  fall  on 
articles  not  produced  in  this  country,  just  as  the  internal 
taxes  fall  on  tobacco  and  spirits. 

During  the  thirty  years  that  the  English  corn  laws  were 
in  existence  the  prosperity  of  the  farmer  continually  de- 
clined. Farm  labor  suffered  in  proportion.  Artisans  and 
laborers  in  manufactories  were  reduced  to  penury.  The 
peace  of  the  country,  and  even  the  existence  of  the  govern- 
ment, were  threatened. 

Sir  Robert  Peel,  who  had  changed  from  Protection  to 
Free-trade  and  had  championed  the  repeal  of  the  Corn 
Laws,  said  on  retiring  from  power :  "  I  shall  surrender 
power  severely  censured  by  those  who,  from  no  interested 
motives,  adhere  to  Protection,  considering  it  essential  to 
the  welfare  and  interests  of  the  country.  I  shall  leave  a 


HON.  WILLIAM  C.  WHITNEY. 

Born  in  Conway,  Mass,.  July  15,1841;  graduated  at  Yale,  1863 ; 
graduated  at  Harvard  Law  School,  18G5;  continued  study  of  law  in 
New  York  city  and  admitted  to  bar  there ;  prominent  member  ol 
Young  Men's  Democratic  Club;  conspicuous  for  activity  against 
"Tweed  Ring;  "  Inspector  City  Schools,  1872;  candidate  of  Reformed 
Democracy  for  District  Attorney  and  defeated ;  appointed  Corporation 
Counsel  for  New  York  city,  1876-80;  reputed  to  have  saved  the  city 
large  sums  by  resisting  fraudulent  claims ;  resigned  office,  1882 ;  ap- 
pointed Secretary  of  Navy  by  President  Cleveland,  March  5,  1885;  re- 
ceived degree  of  LL.  D.  from  Yale,  1888 ;  advocate  of  a  new  navy,  and 
made  this  a  conspicuous  feature  of  his  administration. 


DOCTRINE  OP  FREE-TRADE.  89 

name  execrated  by  every  monopolist  who,  from  less  honor- 
able motives,  clamors  for  Protection,  because  it  conduces  to 
his  own  individual  benefit.  But,  it  may  be,  that  I  shall 
leave  a  name  sometimes  remembered  with  expressions  of 
good  will  in  the  abodes  of  those  whose  lot  is  to  labor, 
and  to  earn  their  bread  by  the  sweat  of  their  brows,  when 
they  shall  recruit  their  strength  with  abundant  and  untaxed 
food,  the  sweeter  because  it  is  no  longer  leavened  with  a 
sense  of  injustice." 

The  entire  doctrine  of  Free-trade  was  confirmed  by  reso- 
lution in  the  British  House  of  Commons  in  1852,  and  the 
Protectionists  gave  up  the  battle. 

In  the  United  States,  from  1824  to  1833,  the  demands  of 
Protectionists  threatened  the  peace  of  the  nation,  just  as 
their  demands  did  in  England. 

At  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  compromise  tariff  of 
1833,  President  Jackson  said  in  his  message  of  that  year: 
"  Those  who  take  an  enlarged  view  of  the  condition  of  our 
country  must  be  satisfied  that  the  policy  of  Protection  must 
be  ultimately  limited  to  those  articles  of  domestic  manu- 
facture which  are  indispensable  to  our  safety  in  time  of  war. 
Within  this  scope,  on  a  reasonable  scale,  it  is  recommended 
by  every  consideration  of  patriotism  and  duty,  which  will 
always,  doubtless,  secure  for  it  a  liberal  support ;  but  be- 
yond this  object  we  have  already  seen  the  operation  of  the 
system  productive  of  discontent.  In  some  sections  of  the 
Union  its  influence  is  deprecated  as  tending  to  concentrate 
wealth  in  few  hands  and  as  creating  those  germs  of  de- 
pendence and  vice  which  in  other  countries  have  character- 
ized the  existence  of  monopolies  and  proved  so  destructive 
of  liberty  and  the  public  good.  A  large  proportion  of  the 
public  in  one  section  of  the  Union  declares  it  not  only  in- 
expedient on  these  grounds,  but  as  disturbing  the  equal 


oo  DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 

relations  of  capital  by  legislation  and  therefore  unconstitu- 
tional and  unjust." 

Said  Senator  Rowan,  of  Kentucky,  in  1828:  "It  is  in 
vain  that  Protection  is  called  the  'American  System.' 
Names  do  not  alter  things.  There  is  but  one  American 
system,  and  that  is  delineated  in  the  State  and  Federal  Con- 
stitutions. It  is  the  system  of  equal  rights  secured  by  the 
Constitution — a  system  which  instead  of  subjecting  the 
labor  of  some  to  taxation  with  a  view  to  enrich  others,  se- 
cures to  all  the  proceeds  of  their  labor,  exempt  from  taxa- 
tion except  for  the  support  of  the  protecting  powers  of  the 
government." 

As  chairman  of  the  "  Committee  on  Manufactures  "  in 
1832,  John  Quincy  Adams  said  : — "  The  doctrine  that  duties 
of  import  seem  to  cheapen  the  price  of  the  article  on  which 
they  are  levied,  seems  to  conflict  with  the  first  dictates  of 
common  sense.  The  duty  constitutes  a  part  of  the  price  of 
the  whole  mass  of  the  article  in  the  market.  It  is  substan- 
tially paid  upon  the  article  of  domestic  manufacture,  as  well 
as  upon  that  of  foreign  production.  Upon  one  it  is  a  bounty, 
upon  the  other  a  burden,  and  the  repeal  of  the  tax  must 
operate  as  an  equivalent  reduction  of  the  price  of  the  article 

whether  foreign  or  domestic We  say  so  long  as  the 

importation  continues,  the  duty  must  be  paid  by  the  pur- 
chaser of  the  article." 

In  1 846  George  M.  Dallas  said : — "  This  exercise  of  the 
taxing  (tariff)  power  was  originally  intended  to  be  tem- 
porary. The  design  was  to  foster  feeble  infant  manufactures, 
especially  such  as  were  essential  for  the  defence  of  the  coun- 
try in  time  of  war.  In  this  design  the  people  have  per- 
severed until  these  saplings  have  taken  root,  become  vigorous, 
expanded  and  powerful,  and  are  prepared  to  enter  with  con- 
fidence the  field  of  fair,  free  and  universal  competition." 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE.  91 

Protection  is  responsible  for  the  evils  resulting  from  a 
violation  of  lavr  known  as  smuggling.  This  practice,  or 
crime,  is  as  baneful  and  disastrous  to  the  honest  tradesmen 
as  the  competition  of  free-trade  is  healthful  and  beneficial. 

Taking  the  two  decades,  1840  to  1850,  and  1850  to  1860, 
and  regarding  the  first  as  a  period  which  was  most  affected 
by  the  high  tariff  of  1842,  and  the  last  as  most  affected  by 
the  free-trade  tariff  of  1846,  the  contrast  is  in  favor  of  the 
last  decade.  During  the  non-protective  period  cotton  manu- 
factures increased  130  per  cent,  woollen  manufactures  in- 
creased 62  per  cent,  and  mostly  between  1857  and  1860, 
when  the  cheaper  grades  of  wool  were  admitted  free,  The 
year  1860  saw  the  manufacture  of  913,000  tons  of  pig-iron 
at  good  prices,  or  100,000  tons  more  than  any  previous 
year.  In  1860  the  aggregate  of  our  exports  showed  an  in- 
crease of  200  per  cent,  in  ten  years.  The  decade  between 
1850  and  1860  showed  an  increase  of  agricultural  produc- 
tions of  100  per  cent,  over  the  previous  decade.  In  1860 
our  total  exports  were  $400,000,000,  or  $43,500,000  more 
than  any  previous  year ;  and  our  imports  were  $362,000,000, 
a  much  larger  amount  than  any  previous  year.  We  con- 
sumed far  more  sugar,  tea  and  coffee,  per  capita,  during  the 
free-trade  tariff  decade  than  the  previous  one,  and  also  more 
than  between  the  years  of  1860  and  1868,  years  of  protec- 
tion. Farms  increased  in  value  103  per  cent,  between  1850 
and  1860.  Farm  products  increased  from  75  to  100  per 
cent  The  products  of  all  our  manufactures  was  $5  5  3 ,000,000 
in  1850;  in  1860,  it  was  $1,009,000,000.  From  1840  to 
1850  the  real  and  personal  property  in  the  United  States  in- 
creased 80  per  cent  ;  between  1850  and  1860  it  increased 
126  per  cent  At  no  time  prior  to  1850-1860  had  the  cap- 
ital of  the  nation  increased  so  fast,  and  nothing  demonstrates 
so  forcibly  the  success  of  free-trade  principles  in  the  United 


92  DOCTRINE  OP  FREE-TRADE. 

States.  In  1850  there  were  872  banks;  in  1860,  1562; 
while  banking  capital  increased  from  $227,500,000  to 
^422,000,000.  Vast  sums  were  expended  in  railroad  build- 
ing during  the  decade — 21,613  miles  being  built,  as  against 
904  miles  between  1842  and  1846. 

Protective  duties  on  wool  depress  the  price  of  domestic 
wool  and  injure  wool-growers.  The  reason  is  that  when  the 
supply  of  wool-growing  countries  is  shut  out  of  our  market, 
it  floods  Europe  at  so  low  a  figure  as  to  enable  European 
manufacturers  to  make  the  finer  class  of  goods  and  sell  them 
to  us,  duty  paid,  at  a  lower  figure  than  we  can  afford  to 
make  them.  The  price  of  American  wool  has  not  risen 
with  higher  tariffs. 

By  the  time  Protection  pays  the  penalty  of  over-produc- 
tion, it  makes  it  too  costly  as  an  experiment.  James 
Buchanan  said  in  1846: — "Our  Domestic  Manufactures 
have  been  saved  by  the  election  of  James  K.  Polk  from  be- 
ing overwhelmed  by  the  immense  capital  which  would 
have  rushed  into  them  for  investment,  and  from  an  expan- 
sion of  the  currency  which  would  have  nullified  any  protec- 
tion short  of  prohibition." 

So  Hon.  James  Lloyd,  of  Massachusetts,  said  in  the 
Senate  in  1820: — "I  am  interested  in  manufactures.  I  own 
stock  in  one  of  the  cotton-mills  running  in  my  State.  It 
regularly  pays  good  dividends  and  is  likely  to  do  so  con- 
tinually if  the  tariff  is  let  alone.  But  if  you  pass  the  bill, 
hundreds  of  such  factories  will  be  erected,  till  the  market  is 
glutted  with  their  fabrics,  when  prices  must  fall  and  our 
concern  very  possibly  be  broken  down." 

Of  the  year  1860,  the  end  of  the  free-trade  era,  General 
J  ,mes  A.  Garfield  said  : — "  I  suppose  it  will  be  admitted  on 
all  hands  that  1860  was  a  year  of  unusual  business  prosperity 
in  the  United  States.  It  was  at  a  time  when  the  bounties  of 


HON.  WILLIAM  BOURKE  COCHRAN. 

Born  in  Ireland,  February  28,  1854 ;  educated  there  and  in  France ; 
migrated  to  America  at  the  age  of  seventeen  ;  taught  in  private  academy ; 
Principal  of  Public  School  in  New  York;  admitted  to  bar,  1876;  elected, 
as  a  Democrat,  to  50th  Congress ;  a  member  of  Commission  to  revise 
Judiciary  Article  of  New  York  Constitution;  elected,  as  a  Democrat,  t<> 
52<1  Congress,  for  Tenth  New  York  District,  and  by  a  majority  of  over 
6000  votes ;  member  of  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means ;  a  distinguished 
party  leader  and  organizer. 

(94) 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE.  95 

Providence  were  scattered  with  a  liberal  hand  over  the  face 
of  the  Republic ;  it  was  at  a  time  when  all  classes  of  our 
community  were  well  and  profitably  employed  ;  it  was  a 
time  of  peace,  the  apprehension  of  our  great  war  had  not 
yet  seized  the  minds  of  our  people ;  great  crops,  north  and 
south — great  general  prosperity — marked  the  era." 

Hon.  Caleb  B.  Smith,  President  Lincoln's  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  says  in  his  report : — "  Without  any  special  stimulus 
to  growth — depressed  indeed,  during  the  years  1857  and 
1858,  in  common  with  other  public  interests  by  the  general 
embarrassments  of  those  years,  and  with  a  powerful  com- 
petition in  the  amazing  growth  of  manufactures  in  Great 
Britain  and  nearly  every  other  nation  in  Europe — the  manu- 
factories of  the  United  States  had  nevertheless  augmented, 
diversified  and  perfected  in  nearly  every  branch  and  uni- 
formly throughout  the  Union.  Domestic  materials,  whether 
animal,  vegetable  or  mineral,  found  ready  sales  at  remunera- 
tive prices  and  were  increased  in  amount  with  the  demand, 
while  commerce  and  internal  trade  were  invigorated  by  the 
distribution  of  both  raw  and  manufactured  products.  Inven- 
tion was  stimulated  and  rewarded.  Labor  and  capital  found 
ample  and  profitable  employment,  and  new  and  unexpected 
fields  were  opened  to  each.  Agriculture  furnished  food  and 
materialsat  moderate  cost,  and  the  skill  of  our  artisans  cheap- 
ened and  multiplied  all  artificial  instruments  of  comfort  and 
happiness  for  the  people.  Even  the  more  purely  agricul- 
tural States  of  the  South  were  rapidly  creating  manufactories 
for  the  improvement  of  their  great  staples  and  their  abundant 
natural  resources.  The  nation  seemed  speedily  approach- 
ing a  period  of  complete  independence  in  respect  to  the 
products  of  skilled  labor,  and  national  security  and  happi- 
ness seemed  about  to  be  insured  by  the  harmonious  develop- 
ment of  all  the  great  interests  of  the  people." 
5 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 

THE  doctrine  of  protection  starts  without  a  doubt  as  to 
nomenclature.  As  a  principle,  it  admits  of  no  exception 
in  the  first  chapters  of  the  history  of  every  commercial 
nation. 

The  commercial  nation  never  existed  that  did  not,  at 
first,  protect  itself.  So  astute,  refined  and  far-reaching  has 
commerce  become,  that  no  nation  which  refuses  to  protect 
itself  can  ever  hope  to  test  its  fitness  for  commercial  suprem- 
acy, or  independence,  much  less  obtain  it. 

The  same  is  true  of  industrial  and  manufacturing  inde- 
pendence, both  of  which  imply  commercial  independence, 
the  moment  transit  is  acknowledged  as  a  subject  of  pro- 
tection. 

Nature  supplemented  by  art  made  American  transit  supreme, 
or  nearly  so,  when  ships  were  of  wood.  Art  combined  with 
nature  made  English  ships  supreme,  when  ships  came  to  be 
of  iron.  But  nature  is  still  on  our  side  as  to  iron.  Add  the 
art  of  England  to  American  nature,  and  transit  will  have  its 
old  supremacy.  Art  is  protection  and  protection  art. 

A  protective  tariff  provides  revenue  for  the  government 
in  a  better  way  than  any  other  kind  of  a  tariff.  England 
levies  duties  for  revenue  only.  They  fall  on  two  classes  of 
articles ;  first,  luxuries ;  second,  on  articles  that  cannot  be 
raised  or  produced  profitably  at  home  and  cannot  come  into 
competition  with  home  productions.  It  so  happens  that 
the  latter  class  of  articles  embraces  tea,  coffee  and  many 
things  which  rank  as  necessities  among  the  common  people. 

Protection  omits  duties,  when  not  required  for  simple 
(96) 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION.  97 

revenue,  from  tea,  sugar,  coffee,  and  articles  which  rank  as 
necessities,  and  which  cannot  be  produced  profitably  at 
home  or  cannot  come  into  competition  with  home  produc- 
tions, and  in  their  stead  levies  discriminating  duties  upon 
articles  that  come  in  direct  competition  with  home  pro- 
ducts. 

The  rate  of  such  duties  is  adjusted,  in  theory,  so  that  the 
foreign  product  cannot  enter  the  home  market  at  a  price 
below  what  it  can  fee  produced  for  at  home,  with  a  fair  profit 
included. 

Some  rates  are  prohibitory,  as  when  there  is  desire  or 
determination  to  found  a  new  industry;  but  as  a  rule  they 
are  simply  discriminative,  and  in  favor  of  industries  which 
exist,  but  which  would  cease  to  exist  unless  protected. 

Since  labor  constitutes  a  large  per  cent,  of  manufactured 
products — in  some  products  as  much  as  ninety  per  cent,  of 
the  cost — the  most  direct  effect  of  protection  is  to  maintain 
the  price  of  that  labor  as  it  enters  into  the  home  product, 
and  preserve  it  from  competition  with  the  cheaper  labor  that 
enters  into  the  same  product  abroad. 

The  effect  of  protection  on  labor  is  direct  and  indirect. 
When  the  price  of  labor  in  protected  industries  is  main- 
tained, that  in  the  unprotected  industries  is  also  maintained. 

The  application  of  protection  to  industries  in  this  country 
reverses  the  doctrine  of  political  economists  that  the  price 
of  an  article  is  increased  to  the  consumer  by  just  the  amount 
of  duty  imposed  upon  it. 

Protection  may  increase  the  price  of  an  article  temporarily, 
and  by  some  per  cent,  of  the  duty  levied,  but  the  price  de- 
clines as  the  home  manufacture  of  the  article  enlarges  and 
home  competition  sets  in. 

Protection  encourages  capital  and  invites  it  into  enter- 


98  DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 

prises  from  which  it  would  shrink,  owing  to  its  natural 
conservatism. 

The  spirit  of  invention  and  the  employment  of  labor-sav- 
ing machinery  and  devices  are  encouraged  by  protection. 

Labor  yields  most  when  aided  by  artificial  appliances  and 
cheered  by  liberal  and  certain  remuneration. 

The  last  three  factors  render  production  exceptional  in 
this  country.  Together  with  the  law  of  competition,  they 
furnish  an  output  of  products  better  in  quality  and  cheaper 
in  price  than  those  of  nations  that  rely  solely  on  cheap  labor 
for  cheap  price.  The  cheapness  of  protection  does  not 
imply  degradation  of  labor,  but  greater  deftness  of  hand, 
quickened  genius,  advantage  of  natural  opportunity. 

The  tariff  is  not  a  tax.  While  most  articles,  whose  home 
manufacture  has  been  encouraged  by  a  duty  upon  them,  sell 
at  no  higher  price  than  when  imported,  many  such  sell  for 
a  less  price  than  the  duty  imposed. 

When  the  foreign  producer  lands  his  goods  here,  and 
finds  them  in  competition  with  home-made  goods,  he  pays 
the  duty. 

Says  a  Bradford,  England, manufacturer:  "The  least  pos- 
sible reduction  in  the  American  tariff  will  be  a  grand  thing 
for  Bradford.  We  are  selling  our  goods  for  the  same  prices 
we  did  before  the  higher  tariff  was  enacted,  and  I  know  the 
Bradford  manufacturer  is  paying  the  duty,  not  the  American 
consumer." 

Another  English  manufacturer  says  :  "  If  the  duties  came 
out  of  the  American  consumer  the  English  manufacturer 
would  not  care  a  button  about  the  American  tariff  laws." 

Friedrich  List,  founder  of  the  German  Zollverein,  or  Cus- 
tom's Union,  Adam  Smith  and  John  Stuart  Mill,  all  sub- 
scribe to  the  doctrine  that  a  country  which  is  exclusively 
agricultural  is  necessarily  backward.  They  instance  Poland. 


HON.  WILLIAM  McKiNLET,  JR. 

Born  at  Niles,  Ohio,  February  26,  1844 ;  enlisted  in  the  23d  Ohio 
Vols.,  May,  1861 ;  mustered  out  as  Brevet-Major,  September,  1865 ; 
studied  law  and  served  as  Prosecuting  Attorney  for  Stark  co. ;  elected  to 
45th,  46th,  47th  and  48th  Congresses;  unseated  in  48th  Congress  by 
Democratic  opponent;  re-elected  to  49th,  50th  and  51st  Congresses; 
defeated  as  candidate  for  52d  Congress,  owing  to  gerrymander  of  his 
District ;  rose  to  renown  as  exponent  of  Protection  ;  Chairman  of  Ways 
and  Means  Committee  in  51st  Congress,  and  the  Tariff  Act  of  1890  be- 
came known  as  the  McKinley  Act;  elected  Governor  of  Ohio,  Novem- 
ber, 1891,  by  21,511  majority,  the  leading  issues  being  Protection  and 
Silver  Coinage. 

(100) 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION.  101 

"Since,  then,  although  it  is  undoubtedly  bad  for  privileges 
to  give  rise  to  artificial  industries,  many  industries  well 
suited  to  the  nature  of  a  country  will  never  develop  there 
unless  at  first  protected.  The  best  road  to  arrive  at  free- 
trade  and  obtain  from  it  the  maximum  advantage  lies  through 
a  temporary  adoption  of  protection." 

Protection  in  this  country  at  first  vindicated  itself  by  the 
example  of  all  civilized  nations.  Then,  by  universal  ac- 
quiescence in  the  principle  that  duties  on  imports  were  more 
cheerfully  paid  than  any  species  of  tax  for  revenue.  Now 
it  vindicates  itself  by  what  it  has  achieved  for  the  country 
in  the  domain  of  capital  and  labor.  It  claims  to  have  won 
by  honest  effort  and  practical  results  the  title,  "American 
System." 

"  The  safety  and  interest  of  the  people  require  that  they 
should  promote  such  manufactures  as  tend  to  render  them 
independent  of  others  for  essential,  particularly  for  military, 
supplies." — George  Washington. 

"  That  it  may  be  expedient  to  guard  the  infancy  of  this 
improvement  ('  useful  manufactures ')  by  legislation  of  the 
commercial  tariff,  cannot  fail  to  suggest  itself  to  your  pa- 
triotic reflections."  Again,  "  In  adjusting  the  duties  on 
imports  to  the  object  of  revenue,  the  influence  of  the  tariff 
on  manufactures  will  necessarily  present  itself  for  considera- 
tion. However  wise  the  theory  may  be  which  leaves  to  the 
sagacity  and  interest  of  individuals  the  application  of  their 
industry  and  resources,  there  are  in  this,  as  in  all  cases,  ex- 
ceptions to  the  rule." — James  Madison. 

As  to  the  highest  duties  of  the  government,  Thomas 
Jefferson,  in  his  second  annual  message,  said :  It  is  "  to  cul- 
tivate peace  and  maintain  commerce  and  navigation  in  all 
their  lawful  enterprises ;  to  foster  our  fisheries  as  nurseries 


102  DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 

of  navigation  for  the  nurture  of  man ;  and  to  protect  the 
manufactures  suited  to  our  circumstances." 

"The  restrictive  legislation  of  1808-15  was,  for  the  time 
being,  equivalent  to  extreme  protection.  The  consequent 
rise  of  a  considerable  class  of  manufactures,  whose  success 
depended  largely  on  the  continuance  of  protection,  formed 
the  basis  of  a  strong  movement  for  more  decided  limitation 
of  foreign  competition." — Prof.  Taussig. 

Adam  Smith,  the  father  of  free-trade,  admits  that  could 
any  number  of  communities,  producing  what  each  other 
wants,  be  brought  into  commercial  contact,  there  would 
have  been  no  need  of  his  evolving  the  doctrine  of  free- 
trade.  In  this  country  there  are  forty-four,  and  more,  of 
such  communities. 

What  was  a  theory  with  Hamilton,  that  protection  tended 
to  lower  the  price  of  protected  articles,  became  a  fact  under 
the  operation  of  our  tariff  legislation. 

The  genius  of  a  nation  is  at  its  best  when  not  subjected 
to  conditions  foreign  to  it.  To  let  institutions  have  sway 
here  which  are  born  abroad,  and  which  may  be  best  for 
abroad,  would  be  for  us  to  subject  ourselves  to  monarchy. 
It  would  be  just  the  same  if  we  lost  our  commercial  or  in- 
dustrial Americanism  and  became  subject  to  the  codes 
which  demean  labor  by  caste  and  enslave  it  by  hereditary 
custom. 

The  protection  which  monarchical  countries,  without  ex- 
ception, patronized  and  by  which  they  exist  was  never  in 
the  interest  of  labor  as  now  in  this  country. 

The  conditions  which  exist  in  America  are  wholly  dif- 
ferent from  those  which  gave  color  to  free-trade  as  a  doc- 
trine with  European  economists.  Had  they  been  situated 
as  we  are,  and  known  what  we  know,  they  would  have  col- 
lated and  deduced  differently.  In  one  hundred  years 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION.  103 

America  has  established  a  set  of  statistical  facts  which  ut- 
terly destroy  the  deductions  based  on  facts  of  an  older 
regime  and  on  conditions  never  dreamed  of.  Protection  in 
the  United  States  is  really  a  new  political  economy,  of  far 
more  worth  to  us  than  the  economic  visions  of  one  hundred 
years  ago,  indulged  by  men  who  knew  no  distinction  be- 
tween labor  and  serfdom  and  who  saw  no  hope  for  enter- 
prise outside  of  capital  linked  with  landed  aristocracy  and 
lordly  title. 

Protection  has  long  since  triumphed  over  the  argument 
that  it  was  unconstitutional.  This  argument  is  not  urged 
to-day  except  by  the  very  ignorant  or  very  prejudiced.  But 
the  argument  reappears  in  the  charge  that  protection  fosters 
monopoly.  This  was  Calhoun's  standing  argument.  He 
saw  that  it  enured  more  to  the  benefit  of  free  paid  labor  than 
of  slave  unpaid  labor,  and  that  it  encouraged  the  manufac- 
turing as  against  the  planting  classes.  The  industries  which 
involved  invention,  skill,  competition,  live  capital  and  paid 
labor  were  the  ones  which  protection  favored.  Those  which 
involved  none  of  these  received  no  benefit  from  protection 
and  did  not  need  it.  His  views  of  monopoly  turned  on  this 
point.  Since  the  downfall  of  slavery  the  heart  has  been 
taken  out  of  the  monopoly  argument,  for  it  has  become  plain 
to  all  that  what  improves  the  condition  of  the  entire  people 
does  not  savor  of  monopoly. 

Protection  protects  against  monopoly.  Before  the  tariff 
of  1824  American  cottons  sold  at  24  cents  a  yard.  After 
that  tariff,  they  sold  at  7^  cents  a  yard.  New  mills,  im- 
proved machinery  and  increased  competition,  put  a  better 
material  in  the  market  at  a  third  of  the  price. 

The  monopoly  may  be  foreign.  England  sold  us  steel 
rails,  for  railroads,  at  $150  per  ton.  She  continued  to  do 
this  till  1870,  when  a  duty  of  $28  a  ton  was  levied.  Under 


104  DOCTRINE  OF    PROTECTION. 

this  protection  we  began  to  build  mills  for  their  manufacture. 
The  price  of  steel  rails  began  to  decline.  They  are  now  sold 
at  a  profit  at  from  $33  to  $40  a  ton.  English  monopoly  was 
costing  us  five  prices  for  a  ton  of  rails. 

Protection  gives  us  competing  power  abroad.  Our  cotton 
textiles  are  recognized  as  the  best  in  the  markets  of  the 
world.  The  same  is  true  of  our  edge-tools  and  agricultural 
implements.  European  manufacturers  imitate  these  Amer- 
ican goods  and  use  American  labels  in  order  to  hold  the 
markets  of  South  America  and  the  Orient.  When  this 
competing  power  is  amplified  by  reciprocity  and  by  direct 
steam  communication,  both  of  which  are  protective,  no  na- 
tion can  rival  us  in  South  American  and  Chinese  markets. 

A  tariff  for  revenue  is  a  tax.  A  tariff  on  tea,  coffee  and 
sugar,  raises  the  price  to  the  consumer,  because  it  offers  no 
inducement,  and  cannot,  by  reason  of  soil  and  climate,  for 
their  home  production.  Sugar  is  partly  an  exception,  as 
we  can  raise  some  sugar-cane.  It  may  become  wholly  an 
exception  if  the  experiment  with  beets  prove  a  success.  As 
to  trading  in  manufactured  articles,  articles  of  art  and  handi- 
craft, the  application  of  the  doctrine  of  natural  right  as 
claimed  by  free-traders,  is  suicidal  to  the  younger  or  weaker 
nation.  No  nation  recognizes  it  except  in  theory.  Nations 
are  not  natural,  one  to  the  other,  as  to  trade,  except  in  the 
respect  that  they  are  selfish.  They  all  claim  the  natural 
right  to  exist,  to  grow,  to  develop,  to  be  independent.  The 
natural  right  to  be  what  nature  intends  is  higher  than  any 
other.  Nature  never  intended  that  one  nation  with  numer- 
ous, large,  long  and  swift  streams,  equal  to  billions  of  horse- 
power, should  buy  for  all  time  the  manufactures  of  nations 
with  fewer,  smaller,  shorter  and  duller  streams,  equal  to  only 
millions  of  horse-power,  even  though  the  latter  nations  had, 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION.  105 

by  reason  of  age,  so  far  turned  their  power  to  account  as  to 
be  able  to  furnish  products  cheaper  than  the  former. 

Nature  never  intended  that  one  nation  with  a  riches  of 
coal  and  ores  far  exceeding  that  of  another,  should  perpetu- 
ally buy  the  manufactures  of  that  other,  because  it  had 
delved  in  its  mines  for  ages,  and  could  offer  products  cheaper 
dian  the  first. 

Nature  never  intended  that  a  new  nation  with  infinite 
resources  of  climate,  soil,  mine,  genius  and  industry  should 
subordinate  its  traffic  to  nations  of  inferior  resources,  but  with 
the  temporary  advantage  of  age. 

Nature  never  intended  that  nations  that  had  grown  old, 
ripe  and  rich  by  means  of  a  protection,  which  was  absolute 
in  comparison  with  any  that  prevails  to-day,  should  claim 
naturalness  for  a  trade  established  by  agencies  they  deny 
to  others. 

Nature  never  intended  that  conditions  of  labor  under 
which  a  laborer  can  be  an  earner,  saver,  head  of  a  family, 
house  owner,  voter  and  public-spirited  citizen,  should  be 
subjugated  to  conditions  of  labor  which  give  caste  to  occupa- 
tion, demean  calling,  yield  bare  subsistence,  crush  manhood, 
stifle  ambition,beget  slavish  routine,  reduce  to  tread-mill  task. 

Nature  never  intended  that  the  genius  and  capital  of  one 
nation  with  opportunity  should  forever  obey  the  commands 
of  another,  with  less  opportunity,  but  whose  opportunity  had 
the  advantage  of  age. 

But  nature  did  intend  that  each  nation  should  profit  by  its 
gifts.  If  young  and  undeveloped,  it  should  employ  the  arts 
of  development  that  are  commensurate  with  its  gifts.  If 
weak,  it  should  cultivate  strength.  If  dependent,  it  should 
learn  independence.  The  art  of  doing  this  is  its  own  affair. 
The  art  should  be  rational,  based  on  what  it  knows  of  itself — 
its  people,  geography,  topography,  climate,soil,  ores,  streams, 


106  DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 

woods,  facilities  and  resources  in  general.  If,  in  obedience 
to  books  and  theories,  it  is  wrong  in  doing  this,  no  other 
nation  is  so  white  as  to  call  it  black.  The  consensus  of  na- 
tions in  this  respect  is  nature.  The  precise  form  of  protec- 
tion and  development  is  immaterial.  English  free-trade  is 
the  highest,  severest,  most  arbitrary  form  of  protection  of 
which  she  is  capable.  It  is  no  more  condemnatory  of  the 
American  idea  than  was  her  duty  of  $250  on  every  $500 
worth  of  iron,  not  otherwise  enumerated,  she  imported  from 
her  colonies.  It  is  no  more  acceptable  to  the  American 
idea  than  was  her  stamped  paper  and  tea-tax  which  brought 
on  the  Revolution. 

The  highest  duty  of  a  nation  is  to  cultivate  nature,  for 
nature  means  its  people,  institutions  and  resources.  In  this 
respect  America  means  far  more  than  professors  dream  of, 
far  more  than  books  teach,  far  more  than  little,  narrow  men 
with  sectional  or  foreign  predilections  prate  of,  far  more  than 
England,  all  Europe,  or  all  the  world  can  in  their  selfishness 
impress  us  with.  As  a  nation  we  have  escaped  the  thraldom 
of  monarchies,  the  shackles  of  caste,  the  hindrances  of 
mediaeval  institutions,  the  limitations  of  soil,  climate  and 
natural  resource  incident  to  a  continent  which  last  emerged 
from  polar  ice.  As  to  people  we  are  composite.  Where 
and  when  the  mentality  and  physique  of  civilization  blend 
for  the  production  of  a  type,  that  type  will  be  what  nature 
calls  for,  the  survival  of  size,  shape  and  qualities,  fitted  for, 
or  rather  shaped  by,  an  environment  such  as  has  not  hitherto 
existed.  As  to  institution,  we  have  inverted  the  pyramid  of 
monarchy  whose  tip  is  on  the  throne  and  base  in  the  air. 
Here  the  base  is  below,  on  the  people,  and  the  tip  is  in  the 
air,  a  sublimation  of  popular  will  and  not  a  matter  of  family 
or  blood.  As  to  areas  and  climate  we  blend  orient  and 
Occident,  tropic  and  arctic.  It  is  Italy  and  Russia,  London 


DOCTRINE)  OF  PROTECTION.  107 

and  Constantinople.  As  to  soil,  mineral,  wood  and  stream, 
the  resource  is  varied  and  infinite.  The  alluvium  between 
the  Alleghenies  and  Rockies  has  no  counterpart  in  the 
world.  Not  Ural,  Alp  or  Apennine  are  richer  in  ores  than 
our  home  ranges.  No  forests  of  Europe  or  Asia  compare  with 
our  pine  fastnesses.  No  streams  run  larger,  fresher,  swifter, 
more  constant  and  frequent.  It  is  the  place  for  new  men, 
genius,  institution,  development.  The  law,  doctrine  or  cus- 
tom, ripened  by  wholly  different  conditions,  and  sanctioned 
by  antiquity,  is  not  for  us.  We  are  a  nation — an  escape  from 
antique  environment.  To  be  true  we  must  be  original. 
This  is  especially  so  as  to  economics. 

The  facts  upon  which  Smith  and  Mill  built  free-trade 
theories  are  useless  in  America.  Home  facts,  embracing 
periods  of  test,  are  the  only  true  bases  for  home  deductions. 
It  is  our  right  and  duty  to  build  on  them  and  to  evolve  for 
ourselves  the  political  economy  which  they  warrant,  regard- 
less of  the  conclusions  reached  and  the  laws  adopted  by 
other  nations.  These  facts  and  this  use  of  them  have  evolved 
the  common  law  of  protection  in  this  country,  have  con- 
firmed a  principle,  have  established  a  system — the  system 
of  American  Protection. 

When  free-trade  makes  the  claim  that  home  competition 
cannot  cheapen  certain  classes  of  home  manufactures,  pro- 
tection answers  that  in  such  cases  cheapness  equal  to  that 
of  a  foreign  product  is  undesirable  ;  that  there  ought  to  be 
sufficient  patriotic  pride  among  us  to  pay  more  for  such 
articles  when  home-made  than  when  foreign-made,  their 
quality  and  utility  being  the  same ;  that  we  will  be  more 
than  repaid  for  the  difference  in  price  by  the  encouragement 
extended  to  a  home  industry  and  by  the  establishment  of  a 
home  market ;  that  every  cent  spent  at  home  is  a  contribu- 
tion to  the  comfort  of  surroundings,-  the  happiness  of 


loS  DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 

neighbors,  the  erection  of  homes,  the  welfare  of  labor,  the 
founding  of  a  home  market  for  the  wool,  wheat,  corn,  butter, 
cheese,  eggs  and  vegetables  of  the  farmers,  for  which  there 
otherwise  could  be  no  possible  demand ;  or  if  so,  the  demand 
would  be  of  so  foreign  a  nature  as  to  eat  up  profit  by  the 
cost  of  transportation,  by  commissions,  and  by  perishability. 

All  free-traders  make  much  of  the  argument  that  protec- 
tion tends  to  over-production  and  consequently  to  periods 
of  depression  and  panic.  The  protectionists  answer,  first, 
that  this  is  a  confession  that  protection  does  stimulate  pro- 
duction. Secondly,  they  deny  in  toto  that  protection  tends 
any  more  to  over-production  and  to  periods  of  depression 
and  panic,  than  free-trade.  England  is  as  much  subject  to 
periodic  visitations  of  glut  and  depression  as  any  protected 
country.  The  glut  and  depression  in  the  iron  trade  of  1884 
extended  to  every  iron-producing  country,  and  England 
suffered  most  of  all. 

In  this  connection  protection  points  confidently  to  its 
history  in  this  country,  and  relies  upon  the  unshakable 
argument  it  furnishes.  • 

The  absolutely  free-trade  era  between  1783  and  1789  was 
characterized  by  a  glut  of  foreign  products,  suspension  of 
industries,  bankruptcy  of  manufacturers  and  merchants, 
ruinous  depreciation  of  prices,  beggary  of  artisans  and 
laborers,  starvation  of  farmers.  Says  a  writer  of  the  period : 
"  We  are  poor  with  a  profusion  of  material  wealth  in  our 
possession.  That  we  are  poor  needs  no  other  proof  than 
our  prisons,  bankruptcies,  judgments,  executions,  auctions, 
mortgages,  etc.,  and  the  shameless  quantity  of  business  in 
our  courts  of  law." 

This  condition  passed  away  with  the  enactment  of  the 
tariff  Act  of  1789.  It  was  a  modest  provision,  but  sufficient 
to  enunciate  the  principle  of  protection  for  new  industries, 


HON.  SHELBY  M.  CULLOM. 

Born  in  Wayne  co.,  Ky.,  November  22,  1829;  next  year  parents 
moved  to  Tazewell  co.,  111. ;' educated  at  academy  and  university;  ad- 
mitted to  bar  in  Springfield  and  practiced  there  ;  elected  to  State  Legis- 
lature, 1856,  1860,  1872, 1874;  was  Speaker  in  1861  and  1873;  elected 
a  Representative  to  39th,  40th  and  41st  Congresses;  elected  Governor 
of  Illinois  in  1876,  and  re-elected  in  1880;  resigned,  February  5,  1883, 
to  accept  seat  in  United  States  Senate,  as  a  Republican,  and  successor 
to  Hon.  David  Davis ;  term  expires  March  3,  1895 ;  an  active  worker 
and  broad-minded  statesman  ;  father  of  the  Inter-State  Commerce  law. 

(109) 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION.  in 

and  to  change  the  industrial  and  commercial  situation.  By 
1808  the  country  had  recovered  from  the  evil  effects  of  the 
free  trade  era.  Then  set  in  the  restrictive  measures  pre- 
liminary to  the  war  of  1812,  as  the  Embargo  Act  of  1807  and 
the  Non-Intercourse  Act  of  1809.  Duties  were  doubled  by 
the  Act  of  1812  with  a  view  to  secure  revenue.  These 
restrictive  measures,  followed  by  actual  hostilities,  proved 
to  be  an  absolutely  prohibitive  tariff.  Immediately  every 
branch  of  domestic  industry  felt  the  stimulus.  Establish- 
ments for  the  manufacture  of  cottons,  woolens,  iron,  glass, 
pottery,  etc.,  sprang  up  like  magic.  This  instant  and  mar- 
vellous result  was  due  to  extreme  protection,  and  it  really 
formed  the  basis  for  that  strong,  persistent  and  intelligent 
movement  which  had  for  its  view  legislative  limitation  on 
foreign  competition,  and  logical  protection,  as  found  in  Henry 
Clay's  American  System. 

This  view  found  expression  in  the  tariff  act  of  1816,  which 
increased  duties  considerably,  but  most  unfortunately  for 
only  a  limited  period.  The  25  per  cent,  on  cottons  and 
woolens  was  to  fall  to  20  per  cent,  by  1819.  What  was 
barely  protective  became  non-protective  in  three  years. 
Limitation  was  to  undo  the  affirmative  work  of  the  act. 
Though  all  that  grew  out  of  the  ground  remained  high  in 
price  for  a  time,  owing  to  shortages  in  Europe,  manufactured 
goods  declined.  The  long  pent-up  stream  of  English  mer- 
chandise flooded  the  country  after  the  close  of  the  Napo- 
leonic wars,  and  our  manufacturers  were  forced  to  the  wall. 
Panic  set  in,  and  with  it  depression,  bankruptcy  and  all  the 
evils  of  foreign  inundation.  The  products  of  the  soil  found 
the  level  of  devastation,  and  soon  every  interest  was  en- 
gulfed in  the  sad  wave  of  commercial  blight. 

The  lesson  of  this  crisis  was  not  lost  to  our  statesmen 
and  economists,  That  strong  protective  movement  set  in' 


H2  DOCTRINE   OF  PROTECTION. 

which  was  to  concern  so  intimately  the  next  generation. 
England  had  grown  restrictive,  as  evidenced  by  the  passage 
of  her  corn  laws.  Cotton  and  all  our  farm  products  were 
ruinously  cheap.  The  time  was  most  favorable  for  the  pro- 
tection and  growth  of  home  manufactures  and  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  home  markets.  Home  markets  had  not  until 
this  date  been  a  leading  argument  for  protection,  but  from 
this  time  on  the  argument  grew  in  strength.  The  relief 
tariff  of  1818  merely  did  away  with  the  limitations  of  the 
Act  of  1816,  and  extended  the  duties  of  the  latter  act  till 
1826. 

After  1819,  that  is,  in  1820,  the  protectionists  made  a 
vigorous  effort  to  enact  a  really  protective  act.  '  They  failed 
by  a  single  vote  in  the  Senate.  They  succeeded  in  1824, 
with  a  modifiedly  protective  act,  which  became  more  con- 
firmedly  protective  in  the  act  of  1828.  This  protective 
trend  was  most  advantageous.  Recovery  from  the  effect 
of  the  panic  of  1819  was  perfect.  Manufactures  again 
sprang  up.  Labor  got  employment  and  reward.  The 
farmer  rejoiced  at  his  plow.  Prosperity  and  satisfaction 
reigned.  The  seven  years  after  1824  are  counted  as  the 
most  prosperous  they  had  ever  known. 

Free-trade  now  came  to  mean  the  perpetuation  of  slavery, 
the  nullification  of  law,  secession.  It  threw  itself  on  the 
very  legislation  it  had  encouraged,  and  with  such  ferocity 
as  to  compel  the  compromise  tariff  of  1833,  in  which  the 
principle  of  protection  was  abandoned.  Then  the  history 
of  1819  began  to  repeat  itself.  Depression  set  in.  Values 
fell.  Manufactures  ceased.  Merchants  went  into  bank- 
ruptcy. Farmers  became  impoverished.  Labor  begged  for 
bread.  The  horrors  of  1819  were  more  than  repeated  in  the 
final  crash  of  1837,  wnen  cows  sold  for  $i.ooa  head  and 
hogs  for  25  cents.  The  panic  of  1837  cost  the  country 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION.  113 

^1,000,000,000.  To  add  to  the  terrible  situation,  the  sliding 
scale  of  reduction  of  tariff  rates  brought  duties  so  low  by 
1837  ^at  t^ie  Government  ran  short  of  revenue,  and  the 
national  credit  fell  so  low  that  money  could  not  be  bor- 
rowed for  necessary  expenses  except  at  enormous  discount. 

The  reaction  caused  by  this  disastrous  epoch  swept  the 
free-traders  from  power  and  the  protectionists  enacted  the 
protective  tariff  of  1842,  over  the  veto  of  President  Tyler. 
Financial  skies  began  to  clear.  The  sun  of  prosperity  broke 
forth.  Spindles  began  to  hum  and  labor  to  smile.  The 
farmer  held  his  plow  with  confidence.  Customs'  revenues 
leaped  to  seventy  per  cent,  more  than  during  the  last  year 
of  the  compromise  Act  of  1833.  Prices  rose,  and  every  in- 
dustry was  inspired  with  new  life. 

But  in  1844  free-trade,  more  wedded  than  ever  to  unpaid 
labor,  and  shivering  at  the  importance  of  paid  labor  and 
protected  industry,  rallied  under  the  banner  of  "  Polk,  Dal- 
las and  the  Tariff  of  '42."  How  much  it  believed  in  the 
"  Tariff  of  '42  "  was  shown  by  the  enactment  of  the  Tariff 
of  1846,  by  the  casting  vote  of  Dallas  in  the  Senate.  This 
was  a  free-trade  tariff,  and  its  results  were  foreshadowed  by 
its  opponents.  Happily  there  arose  a  series  of  circum- 
stances which  operated  very  much  like  the  restrictive  meas- 
ures that  followed  the  Act  of  1808.  They  were  all  protective 
and  sufficiently  so  to  postpone  the  evil  effects  of  the  Act  of 
1 846  for  a  time.  They  were  the  Mexican  war,  the  discovery 
of  gold  in  California,  the  Irish  famine,  and  wars  in  Europe. 
But  even  by  1852  the  decrease  in  the  value  of  our  exports 
of  bread-stuffs  and  provisions  had  fallen  off  $47,000,000,  and 
the  supposed  incentive  of  a  low  tariff  and  increased  importa- 
tions from  abroad  was  not  being  realized. 

Another  reduction  of  duties  took  place  in  1857.  Finan- 
cial revolution  set  in,  appalling  in  its  widespread  severity 


H4  DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 

and  distress.  The  crisis  of  1857  not  only  impoverished  the 
people,  but  the  public  revenues  became  so  small  that  the 
Government  was  compelled  to  borrow  money  at  from  8  to 
12  per  cent,  discount  in  order  to  provide  running  expenses. 
Said  President  Buchanan  in  his  annual  message :  "  With  un- 
surpassed plenty  in  all  the  elements  of  national  wealth,  our 
manufactures  have  suspended;  our  public  works  are  re- 
tarded ;  our  private  enterprises  of  different  kinds  are  aban- 
doned and  thousands  of  useful  laborers  are  thrown  out  of 
employment  and  reduced  to  want." 

Since  the  passage  of  the  Morrill  Tariff  Act  of  1861,  the 
doctrine  of  protection  has  found  constant  application.  The 
Act  of  1883  effected  the  largest  change  in  that  of  1861,  by 
reducing  duties  and  enlarging  the  free  list,  but  it  was  crude 
in  many  of  its  provisions.  The  Act  of  1890,  known  as  the 
McKinley  Act,  still  further  enlarged  the  free  list,  addressed 
the  principle  of  protection  more  directly  to  American  labor, 
and  introduced  the  policy  of  reciprocity.  Protectionists 
claim  for  this  period,  1861  to  the  present,  the  establishment 
and  enjoyment  of  an  industrial  system  which  has  assumed 
a  larger  national  growth,  a  more  rapid  accumulation  and 
broader  distribution  of  wealth  than  ever  before  known  in  the 
history  of  our  country.  During  that  period  there  has  been 
but  one  panic,  that  of  1873,  an<^  ^at  differed  from  those  of 
1819,  1837,  and  1857,  m  not  being  confined  to  this  country, 
but  in  having  an  origin  in  general  disturbance  of  credit 
abroad,  the  effect  of  which  was  to  throw  back  upon  us  sud- 
denly an  inordinate  number  of  our  bonds.  This  caused 
sudden  drain  and  great  hardship  for  a  time.  The  condition 
was  almost  repeated  in  1890,  when  the  failure  of  the  Baring 
Brothers,  and  general  disturbance  in  European  credit,  shook 
our  commercial  centres  and  tested  our  ability  to  withstand 
panic.  In  1873  our  mills  did  not  stop  running  as  in  other 


HON.  JOHN  DALZELL. 

Born  in  New  York  city,  April  19,  1845;  moved  to  Pittsburgh,  Pa., 
1847 ;  graduated  from  Yale,  1865 ;  admitted  to  bar,  1867  ;  rose  into 
professional  prominence  as  attorney  for  Pennsylvania  R.  R.  and  leased 
branches;  also  as  solicitor  for  corporations  and  firms  in  Allegheny  co. ; 
elected  to  50th,  51st  and  52d  Congresses  as  a  Republican,  by  large 
majorities;  distinguished  for  industry  and  eloquence;  ardent  defender  of 
Protection,  and  opposed  to  Free  Silver  Coinage  ;  name  discussed  through- 
out the  State  in  connection  with  the  U.  S.  Senatorship. 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION.  117 

panics.  Banks  did  not  break  by  wholesale.  Internal  com- 
merce was  not  interrupted.  Every  recuperative  agency 
had  play.  We  sold  more  than  we  bought,  and  reduced  our 
national  debt.  Protectionists  aver  that  the  panic  of  1873 
was  a  blessing  in  disguise. 

The  eminent  protectionist,  Henry  C.  Carey,  thus  concludes 
his  historic  argument: — 

"  We  have  had  Protection  in  1789,  1812,  1824,  1828,  1842, 
and  from  1861  to  date. 

We  have  had  Free-Trade,  or  very  low  tariff,  in  1783,  1816, 
1832,  1846,  1857. 

Now  note  the  unvarying  results : 

Under  protection  we  have  had.:  Under  Free-Trade  ive  have  had  : 

1.  Great  demand  for  labor.  I.   Labor   everywhere    seeking   em- 

ployment. 

2.  Wages  high  and  money  cheap.  2.  Wages  low  and  money  high. 

3.  Public  and  private  revenues  large.        3.   Public  and  private  revenues  small 

and  steadily  decreasing. 


4.  Immigration  great  and  steadily  in- 

creasing. 

5.  Public  and  private  prosperity  great 

beyond  all  previous  precedent. 

6.  Growing  national  independence. 


4.  Immigration  declining. 

5.  Public    and    private    bankrtiptcy 

nearly  universal. 

6.  Growing  national  dependence. 


The  argument  that  protection  injures  the  farmer  has 
always  been  a  favorite  one  with  free-traders.  It  has  steadily 
grown  in  favor,  and  has  been  given  a  decided  turn  in  the 
Fifty-second  Congress  by  the  attempt  to  remove  the  duty 
from  wool,  binding  twine  and  tin  plate.  The  argument  of 
the  protectionist  is  that  manufactured  articles,  and  especially 
those  which  concern  the  farmer,  are  on  an  average  25  per 
cent,  cheaper  to-day  than  in  1860,  when  80  per  cent,  of  them 
were  made  abroad.  That  now  80  per  cent,  of  them  are  made 
at  home.  That  the  farmer  has  been  saved  the  cost  of  ocean 
transportation  on  this  80  per  cent.,  and  has  had  the  benefit 
of  the  home  market  their  manufacture  has  created  for  his 
6 


Ii8  DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 

produce.  That  such  market  is  certain,  at  his  door,  and 
already  takes  80  per  cent,  of  his  wheat  and  92  per  cent,  of 
his  corn.  That  it  keeps  even  pace  with  the  growth  of  manu- 
factures and  will  ere  long  take  all  his  surplus,  at  a  better 
rate  than  he  can  get  for  it  abroad  and  in  competition  with 
the  cheap  wheat  of  India  and  Australia. 

In  addition  to  the  above  argument,  protectionists  show 
that  our  free  list  now  embraces  nearly  half  of  our  importa- 
tions ;  that  said  list  comprises  all  the  articles  which  affect 
the  comfort  of  the  farmer  or  poor  man,  such  as  sugar,  fruit, 
rice,  breeding  animals,  tea,  coffee,  etc. ;  and  that  the  dutiable 
list  embraces  high  priced  articles  and  articles  of  luxury, 
such  as  wines,  liquors,  cigars,  silks,  satins,  glassware,  dia- 
monds, linens,  cottons,  etc.,  the  duties  on  which  are  paid 
mostly  by  the  wealthy. 

The  free-trader  argues  that  "  free  raw  material  used  in 
the  manufactures  "  is  especially  worthy  of  a  place  on  the 
free  list.  Among  these  he  classes  wool,  flax,  hemp,  seeds, 
iron  ore,  pig  iron,  coal,  marble,  etc.  The  protectionist 
claims  that  the  free-list,  as  enlarged  under  the  Act  of  1890, 
embraces  a  sufficient  number  of  these  articles ;  that  those, 
like  wool,  which  pay  duty,  come  into  competition  with  the 
products  of  our  farmers  and  laborers  in  shops,  mines  and 
furnaces  ;  that  labor  is  a  prime  object  of  protection  ;  that  all 
the  articles,  technically  classed  as  "  raw  material,"  are  not 
such  to  the  farmer,  laborer,  miner  and  furnace  man,  because 
they  represent  the  labor,  skill  and  even  capital  of  the  latter, 
as  much  as  cloth  represents  the  skill  and  capital  of  the  manu- 
facturer, or  the  coat  those  of  the  tailor. 

Protection  repudiates  the  doctrine  that  it  is  a  device  for 
the  benefit  of  the  privileged  classes.  It  rests  on  the  principle 
that  it  operates  for  the  general  development  of  the  resources 
and  the  encouragement  of  the  industries  of  the  country.  If 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION.  119 

classes  or  capital  are  emboldened  by  it  to  undertake  new 
ventures  or  to  enter  channels  they  would  not  otherwise  do, 
that  is  a  matter  which  does  not  affect  the  prime  object  of 
protection  and  cannot  be  controlled  by  legislation.  It  was 
not  England's  tariff  system,  but  her  free-trade  system,  which 
tended  most  to  sustain  her  landed  aristocracy.  Out  of  the 
ten  richest  men  in  the  United  States,  nine  have  accumulated 
fortunes  in  speculative  and  commercial  pursuits,  other  than 
manufacturing,  and  one  in  manufactures  that  had  to  deal 
with  protected  articles. 

So  as  to  trusts.  Protectionists  say  the  facts  do  not  support 
the  theory  that  protection  leads  to  trusts.  The  worst  trust- 
ridden  countries  are  free-trade  countries.  Trusts  in  America 
are  quite  frequently  the  result  of  English  genius  and  capital. 
The  Standard  oil,  Chicago  gas,  Street  railway,  Electric 
lighting,  Cotton  seed  oil,  Sugar  deal,  Reading  deal,  Rich- 
mond terminal,  and  others,  which  rank  as  trusts  or  combina- 
tions, exist  in  spite  of  the  doctrine  of  protection  and  in  no 
way  concern  it.  It  is  by  no  means  certain  that  these  com- 
binations are  harmful  to  the  public  at  large.  For  every  one 
that  finds  an  existence  by  reason  of  dealing  in  protected 
articles,  ten  can  be  found  that  would  exist,  tariff  or  no 
tariff. 

Protection  has  made  the  manufacturer  content  with  a 
reasonable  profit.  An  annual  profit  of  ten  per  cent,  is 
barely  possible  in  this  country  in  the  best-established  man- 
ufactories. Said  Mr.  Bright  in  the  English  Parliament,  in 
1842:  "America,  as  an  independent  country,  has  been  a 
more  valuable  customer  to  England  than  she  could  possibly 
have  been  as  a  colony.  On  all  the  goods  exported  to 
America  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  you  have 
made  a  net  profit  of  forty  per  cent."  Prices  of  home  man- 
ufactures can  therefore  be  trusted  to  home  competition,  but 


120  DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 

foreign  prices  cannot  be  trusted  at  all,  unless  they  are  forced 
to  meet  our  home  competition.  This  was  particularly 
glaring  when  England  was  charging  $150  for  a  ton  of  steel 
rails  which  afterwards,  and  in  the  face  of  our  home  compe- 
tition, she  was  glad  to  get  $40  for.  The  removal  of  duty 
from  tea  and  coffee  in  1 872  caused  a  rise  in  their  price.  There 
was  a  reason  for  the  rise  in  coffee,  because  Brazil  imme- 
diately levied  an  export  tax  on  it.  But  neither  tea  nor  cof- 
fee have  been  so  cheap  since  1872  as  before,  when  tea  paid 
fifteen  cents  and  coffee  two  cents  a  pound  duty.  They  avoid 
home  competition  entirely. 

The  protectionist  supports  his  doctrine  by  calling  in  as  a 
witness  the  material  growth  of  the  country  since  1861,  and 
comparing  it  with  that  of  countries  wedded  to  free-trade. 
He  confidently  asks  judgment  on  the  practical  workings  of 
his  policy,  and  claims  for  the  results  a  fulfillment  of  the 
prophecies  of  Washington,  Hamilton,  Jefferson,  Madison, 
Jackson,  Benton,  Clay,  Webster  and  even  Calhoun,  who  in 
1816  made  his  famous  appeal  in  favor  of  the  protection  and 
importance  of  manufactures  to  the  "  national  strength  and 
perfection  of  our  institutions,"  and  in  "  binding  more  closely 
our  widespread  republic." 

During  thirty  years  of  protection,  and  notwithstanding 
the  wastage  of  four  years  of  war,  our  population  has  grown 
at  the  rate  of  one  million  annually — a  greater  rate  than 
that  of  England,  France,  Germany  and  Austria  combined. 
Our  wealth  has  grown  from  $17,000,000,000  to  nearly  $50,-- 
000,000,000,  or  at  the  rate  of  $  i  ,000,000,000  a  year.  There 
has  gone  into  our  savings  $885,000,000  yearly,  or  almost 
half  as  much  as  the  savings  of  the  entire  world.  The  man 
ufactories,  mines  and  forests  of  Great  Britain  produced  $4,- 
500,000,000  in  1886,  an  increase  of  30  per  cent,  since  1850. 
The,  same  products  in  the  United  States  in  1 880  were  valued 


HON.  NELSON  W.  ALDRICH. 

Born-  at  Foster,  R.  I.,  November  6,  1841.  Academically  educated; 
engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits;  President  of  Providence  Common 
Council,  1871-73;  member  of  State  Assembly,  1875-76;  Speaker  of 
House  of  Representatives  in  1876 ;  elected  to  Congress  for  46th  and 
47th  Congresses;  elected,  as  Republican,  to  United  States  Senate,  1880; 
re-elected,  1886 ;  rose  to  prominence  as  advocate  of  Protection  ;  authority 
in  party  and  Senate  on  matters  pertaining  to  Tariff  Legislation  ;  con- 
spicuous in  preparation  and  adoption  of  Tariff  act  of  1890 ;  Chairman 
of  Committee  on  Rules  and  member  of  Committees  on  Finance  and 
Transportation. 

(122) 


6$  PROTECTION.  12 j 

at  $5,500,000,000,  an  increase  of  160  per  cent,  since  1860. 
Since  1860  our  farms  have  more  than  doubled  in  number 
and  increased  in  value  from  $6,000,000,000  to  $10,000,000,- 
ooo,  while  their  products,  which  were  $  1 ,8oo,ooo,ooG  in 
1860,  were  $3,800,000,000  in  1880. 

In  1880  the  entire  products  of  Great  Britain — farms,  fac- 
tories, mines,  forests  and  all — were  $6,200,000,000,  or  $172 
per  capita.  Of  this  product  she  exported  $1,300,000,000. 
In  the  same  year  the  total  products  of  the  United  States 
were  $10,000,000,000,  or  $200  per  capita.  Of  this  product 
$9,176,000,000  were  consumed  at  home.  Thus  our  home 
market  consumed  more  than  Great  Britain  consumed  and 
exported,  and  more  than  double  the  combined  exports  of 
Great  Britain,  France,  Germany,  Russia,  Holland  and  Aus- 
tria. Besides  this  consumption  of  home  products,  we  im- 
ported $700,000,000  as  against  $335,000,000  in  1860,  and 
exported  $750,000,000  as  against  $373,000,000  in  1860. 

Protectionists  do  not  claim  that  the  system  of  protection 
is,  or  ever  has  been,  perfect.  It  is. not  possible  to  make  it 
so.  But  it  has  proved  in  practice  that  the  arguments  of  its 
opponents  are  unsound.  It  has  established  itself  as  an  es- 
sential part  of  our  commercial  and  business  habit  and  thought, 
and  is  open  to  the  same  equities,  and  laws  of  progress  and 
adjustment,  as  any  essential  feature  of  industrial  welfare. 
Its  destruction,  however,  cannot  be  tolerated.  Attack  on 
it  must  be  resented.  It  is  not  a  system  which  can  be  trusted 
to  its  enemies  for  safe-keeping,  or  modification.  Its  friends 
are  its  natural  custodians,  and  they  alone  are  capable  of 
perpetuating  it  in  the  forms  best  calculated  to  make  it  repeat 
its  past  triumphs  for  labor,  capital  and  the  general  welfare, 
and  to  fit  it  for  the  legitimate  requirements  of  a  still  more 
growthy  and  imposing  future. 


OUR    TARIFF    LEGISLATION.  —  AN    HISTORIC 
REVIEW. 

THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD. 

THE  English  colonial  system  in  America  began,  in  1616, 
with  the  Virginia  charter. 

It  extended  until  the  colonies  numbered  thirteen,  em- 
bracing the  Atlantic  front  from  Georgia  to  Maine,  and  ex- 
tending inland  indefinitely. 

Whatever  the  ambition  or  object  of  the  colonists,  they  did 
not  cut  the  apron  string  of  allegiance  to  Great  Britain,  but 
agreed  to  obey  the  decrees  of  her  kings,  the  edicts  of  her 
parliaments  and  the  behests  of  her  institutions. 

This  may  seem  strange,  since  every  colony  was  a  protest 
against  home  hardship  and  an  escape  from  tyrannical  inter- 
ference with  individual  rights. 

But  questions  of  title  to  land,  incipient  government,  protec- 
tion against  foes,  and  various  others,  proved  paramount  and 
decided  the  terms  of  colonization. 

As  to  the  mother  country,  those  terms  implied  political 
allegiance  and  commercial  contribution. 

Legitimate  trade  dates  from  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  Hol- 
land, England  and  France  vied  with  each  other  in  that 
paternalism  which  went  out  to  the  industries  and  to  com- 
merce in  the  shape  of  protective  legislation. 

From  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  to  1846,  there  are  four 
hundred  Acts  of  Parliament — tonnage  laws,  poundage  laws, 
protective  tariff  and  commercial  regulations — relating  to 
manufactures  and  trade. 

Some  of  these  prohibited  imports.  Some  prohibited  ex- 
(124) 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  125 

ports,  lest  inferior  nations  should  acquire  the  skill  of  the 
mother  country.  There  is  no  historic  record  of  a  protective 
system  so  extreme  in  its  conditions  and  so  arbitrarily  applied 
as  that  of  Great  Britain,  if  we  exclude  the  despotic  system 
of  China. 

Says  McCullough  in  his  Commercial  Dictionary : — "It 
was  a  leading  principle  in  the  colonial  policy,  adopted  as 
well  by  England  as  by  other  European  nations,  to  discourage 
all  attempts  to  manufacture  such  articles  in  the  colonies  as 
could  be  provided  for  them  in  the  mother  country." 

Says  Bancroft  in  his  "  History  of  the  United  States  "  : — 
"  England  in  its  relation  with  other  states  sought  a  con- 
venient tariff  In  the  colonies  it  prohibited  industry." 

In  1699  the  British  Parliament  enacted  that  no  wool,  yarn, 
cloth,  or  woollen  manufactures  of  the  English  Plantations  in 
America  should  be  shipped  from  any  of  said  Plantations,  or 
otherwise  laden,  in  order  to  be  transported  thence  to  any 
place  whatsoever,  under  a  penalty  of  forfeiting  both  ship  and 
cargo,  and  a  fine  of  $2500  for  each  offence. 

In  1732  Parliament  prohibited  the  exportation  of  hats 
from  province  to  province  (colony  to  colony)  in  America, 
and  limited  the  number  of  apprentices  to  be  taken  by 
hatters. 

In  1750  the  Parliament  prohibited  as  a  common  nuisance 
the  erection  of  any  mill  in  America  for  slitting  or  rolling 
iron,  or  any  plating  forge  to  work  with  a  tilt-hammer,  or 
furnace  for  making  steel.  The  penalty  for  such  crime  was 
$1000. 

A  little  later  an  Act  was  passed  prohibiting  the  making 
of  nails  in  the  province  of  Pennsylvania. 

About  the  same  time  Lord  Chatham  announced  it  as  his 
opinion  of  colonial  dependence  that  the  American  colonies 
ought  not  to  be  permitted  to  make  even  a  hob-nail  or  horse- 


ta6  OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 

shoe  for  themselves,  and  these  views  were  incorporated  into 
the  Act  of  1765  which  absolutely  prohibited  the  migration 
of  artisans  to  the  American  colonies. 

In  1781  the  Parliament  enacted  that  no  woollen  machin- 
ery should  be  exported  to  the  American  colonies. 

In  1782  Parliament  enacted  that  no  cotton  machinery 
should  be  exported  to  the  colonies,  and  that  no  artificers  in 
cotton  should  migrate  thither.  In  the  same  year  the  duty 
on  bar-iron  was  fixed  at  $  1 2  per  ton.  This  rate  lasted  till 

1795- 

In  1785  Parliament  prohibited  the  exportation  of  iron  and 
steel  making  machinery  to  the  colonies,  and  the  migration 
of  workmen,  skilled  in  those  branches  of  trade,  thither. 

In  1797  Parliament  levied  a  duty,  then  deemed  prohibitive, 
of  $14  per  ton  on  all  foreign  bar-iron  imported  into  Great 
Britain.  In  1798  this  was  increased  to  $15  per  ton;  in 
1806  to  $23  per  ton;  in  1810  to  $24  per  ton ;  in  1818  to 
$28  per  ton;  in  1825  to  $33  per  ton,  if  imported  in  British 
ships,  and  to  $38,  and  over,  per  ton,  if  imported  in  foreign 
ships.  During  the  same  period,  other  manufactures  of  iron 
paid  $90  per  ton,  and  iron  not  otherwise  enumerated  $250 
for  every  $500  worth  imported.  All  of  these  rates  were 
designed  to  be  absolutely  prohibitive,  in  accordance  with 
the  existing  policy  of  the  realm,  which  policy  was  that  of 
France  and  Holland,  both  countries  with  colonial  posses- 
sions, and  both  striving  for  commercial  and  manufacturing 
independence. 

In  1799  the  English  Parliament  prohibited  the  migration 
of  colliers,  lest  other  countries  should  acquire  the  art  of 
mining  coal. 

Says  Adam  Smith,  the  father  of  English  political  economy, 
"  Even  up  to  1776  England  prohibited  the  exportation  from 
one  province  (American)  to  another  by  water,  and  even  the 


HON.  JAMES  E.  CAMPBELL. 

Horn  July  7,  1843 ;  elected  to  Congress  from  Hamilton,  Ohio,  district 
as  a  Democrat,  in  1883-85-87;  the  last  election  was  a  test  of  his  gre;it 
popularity,  as  the  district  had  been  apportioned  so  as  to  contain  1500 
opposing  majority;  chosen  as  the  standard  bearer  of  his  party  (or 
Governor  in  1888  against  Foraker,  and  defeated  him  by  a  handsome 
majority ;  after  a  successful  administration  became  candidate  for  Governor 
against  McKinley  in  1891 ;  a  vigorous  campaign  ensued,  in  which  the 
candidates  united  in  joint  discussion  of  party  issues;  he  suffered  defeat, 
but  lost  none  of  his  strength  and  popularity ;  prominently  mentioned  as  a 
presidential  candidate. 

(128) 


HON.  ISAAC  P.  GRAY. 

Born  in  Chester  co.,  Pa.,  October  28,  1828;  moved  to  Ohio,  1836;  in 
mercantile  pursuits  at  New  Madison,  Ohio,  1836—55;  moved  to  Union 
City,  Ind.,  1855;  in  merchandise,  1855-58;  studied  law  and  admitted  to 
bar;  entered  Union  army  as  Colonel  of  4th  Indiana  Cavalry;  candidate 
for  Congress  on  Republican  ticket,  and  defeated,  1866 ;  advocated 
elect,  .n  of  Greeley,  1872;  elected  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Indiana,  as 
a  Democrat,  in  1876;  served  as  Governor  after  death  of  Governor  Wil- 
liams ;  nominated  for  Lieutenant-Governor,  1880,  and  defeated ;  elected 
Governor  of  Indiana,  as  Democrat,  1884,  running  nearly  1000  votes 
ahead  of  the  National  ticket;  a  prominent  candidate  for  Vice- President 
before  Chicago  National  Convention. 

(139) 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLAION.  l$i 

carriage  by  land,  upon  horseback  or  in  cart,  of  hats,  of  wools 
and  woolen  goods,  of  the  produce  of  America,  a  regulation 
which  effectually  prevents  the  establishment  of  any  manu- 
facture of  such  commodities  for  distant  sale,  and  confines 
the  industry  of  her  colonists  in  this  way  to  such  coarse  and 
household  manufactures  as  a  private  family  commonly 
makes  for  its  own  use,  or  for  that  of  some  of  its  neighbors 
in  the  same  province." 

The  enactments  cited  are  fair  samples  of  those  which  went 
to  compose  the  English  Colonial  policy.  They  help  to  an 
understanding  of  the  leading  object,  which  was  to  limit 
Colonial  America  to  a  farming  community.  America  was 
to  play  the  part  of  India  and  Australia,  as  a  cereal  feeder  of 
a  little  island  whose  commercial  and  manufacturing  genius 
was  far  in  excess  of  its  ability  to  supply  the  necessaries  of 
life  for  its  working  population. 

Of  course  the  suspicion  could  not  escape  so  inquiring  a 
country,  that  America  might  prove  as  rich  in  raw  materials, 
suited  to  English  manufacture,  as  in  farm  products.  There- 
fore the  English  policy,  when  fully  developed,  made  Amer- 
ica a  provider  of  food  and  of  raw  materials  for  England. 
England,  the  main  market,  would  receive  nothing  manufac- 
tured in  the  colonies.  England,  the  supreme  country, 
would  permit  nothing  to  be  manufactured  in  the  colonies. 
England,  the  dominant  commercial  country,  would  permit 
no  trade  with  the  colonies,  except  in  British  bottoms,  and 
of  an  agricultural  surplus,  or  a  raw  material,  in  exchange  for 
her  own  manufactured  products. 

This  was  severe  on  the  colonial  agriculturist,  who,  not 
having  a  voice  in  the  carrying  trade,  nor  a  say  in  what 
should  come  to  him,  could  not  thus  early  raise  an  agricultu- 
ral surplus  sufficient  to  pay  for  what  he  was  compelled  to 
receive  as  an  import.  He  could  not  manufacture,  except  as 


133  OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 

to  the  coarse  things  necessary  for  family  use,  and  he  could 
not  have  interchanged  manufactures  between  the  provinces 
by  using  the  natural  waterways  nor  by  means  of  carts. 

The  colonist  paid  nothing  on  his  imports.  They  were 
free.  The  prohibition  was  on  his  exports,  and  especially  if 
in  manufactured  shape.  The  prohibition  was  on  his  domes- 
tic change  of  manufactured  articles.  All  inducement  to 
manufacture  was  taken  away.  A  home  market  for  agri- 
cultural products,  or  for  raw  materials,  was  not  to  be  en- 
couraged or  tolerated.  The  plan  was  ingenious  and  most 
successful,  so  far  as  English  manufacturers  and  capitalists 
were  concerned.  In  1771  colonial  imports  exceeded  the 
exports  by  $13,000,000,  and  as  trade  was  more  nearly  barter 
than  now,  it  may  be  said  that  the  colonies  incurred  a  debt 
to  England  of  $13,000,000  in  1771,  which  they  had  no  visi- 
ble means  of  paying. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  British  policy  was  effect- 
ing all  its  objects.  Nature  and  opportunity  in  America 
were  entering  their  quiet  protests.  After  the  invention  of 
the  puddling  furnace  and  rolling-mill  by  Henry  Cort,  we 
find  the  English  statutes  most  rigid  against  the  exportation 
of  tools,  utensils  and  artisans  to  foreign  parts,  as  in  1785  and 
1799.  Yet  the  first  rolling-mill  in  America  was  built  and 
started  for  Col.  Isaac  Meason,  at  Plumsock,  Fayette  county, 
Pa.,  by  two  Welshmen,  Thomas  and  George  Lewis,  who 
came  under  the  prohibited  head  of  "  British  skilled  iron- 
workers," and  as  such  were  compelled  to  smuggle  their  way 
across  the  Atlantic  and  into  the  colony  of  Penn. 

So,  nature  having  provided  excellent  ship  timber  and  the 
colonists  having  a  genius  for  ship-building  and  sailing,  they 
quietly  established  a  remunerative  trade  with  the  West 
Indies  and  with  many  nations  more  or  less  remote.  This 
was  intolerable  to  the  mother  country.  The  Navigation 


TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  133 

Act  was  passed  as  a  remedy.  It  provided  that  "  No  goods 
or  commodities  whatever,  the  growth,  production  or  manu- 
facture of  Europe,  Africa  or  America,  shall  be  imported 
into  England  or  Ireland,  or  into  any  of  the  Plantations 
(American  colonies),  except  in  ships  belonging  to  English 
subjects,  of  which  the  master  and  the  greater  number  of  the 
crew  shall  also  be  English." 

This  and  subsequent  navigation  acts  destroyed  our  West 
India  trade.  Prices  of  goods  imported  and  exported,  and 
their  quantities,  fell  entirely  under  English  jurisdiction.  All 
she  sent  to  us  was  free  of  duty.  All  sent  to  her  was  upon 
her  own  conditions.  Nothing  could  be  sent,  except  in  her 
bottoms,  and  to  the  destination  and  upon  the  terms  she  im- 
posed. As  Burke  said  in  Parliament,  "  By  it  (the  Naviga- 
tion Act)  the  commerce  of  the  colonies  was  not  only  tied, 
but  strangled." 

Our  Revolutionary  history,  familiar  to  every  schoolboy, 
acquaints  us  with  the  English  method  of  extracting  revenue 
directly  from  her  colonies  by  means  of  such  inventions  as 
the  Stamp  Act,  the  Tea  Tax,  etc.  They  were  but  parts  of 
an  ingenious  and  stupendous  system  of  home  protection 
which  eventuated  in  established  manufactures  and  commerce, 
and  in  a  final  declaration  of  independence  of  the  rest  of  the 
world  in  these  respects. 

Just  here,  the  thought  is  foreign  to  neither  the  theme  nor 
time,  it  may  well  be  wondered  why  so  astute  a  nation  as 
Great  Britain,  after  two  hundred  years  of  an  attempt  to 
make  a  simple  wheat  granary  of  America,  and  after  the 
energies  which  followed  American  independence  fully 
established  the  fact  that  such  a  granary  was  within  reach, 
did  not  rather  choose  to  take  advantage  of  it,  than  fly  to 
others  in  India  and  in  the  Islands  of  the  sea,  far  more  remote 
and  far  less  obedient  to  the  comities  of  trade.  Did  she 


134  OUR  TARIFF  LF.GJSLATI6N. 

scent  the  possibilities  of  American  development  and  the  rise 
of  a  home  market,  which  would  absorb  the  annual  agri- 
cultural product,  or  at  least  create  a  demand  from  which  her 
capital  would  shrink  ? 

A    FIRST    EXPERIMENT. 

After  the  treaty  of  1783  which  closed  the  Revolutionary 
war  and  established  American  Independence,  up  until  1789, 
the  date  of  the  first  American  Tariff  Act,  the  ports  of  this 
country  were  open  to  the  goods  of  all  nations.  Most  of  this 
time  (to  1787)  was  the  era  of  the  Confederacy.  This  period 
was  one  during  which  the  States  were  held  together  by  very 
weak  ties,  by  "  a  rope  of  sand  "  as  one  historian  has  it. 
They  had  conceded  little  in  their  "  Articles  of  Confedera- 
tion," and  had  withheld  entirely  from  the  central  government 
the  right  to  regulate  their  commerce.  Each  State  strove  to 
secure  trade  for  itself,  and  each  imposed  restrictions  on 
foreign  commerce  as  it  saw  fit,  or  left  them  unimposed. 
The  consequence  was  that  there  was  no  concert  of  action. 
The  condition  which  arose  was  worse  than  a  free-trade  con- 
dition, for  one  State  was  sure  to  nullify  the  commercial 
enactments  of  another,  through  jealousy  or  some  other 
motive. 

When  Pennsylvania  imposed  a  slight  tariff  on  certain 
classes  of  imports,  New  Jersey  opened  a  free  port  at  Bur- 
lington and  flooded  the  city  of  Penn  with  smuggled  goods. 
When  New  Jersey  voted  to  impose  a  general  tariff  New 
York  refused,  and  in  revenge  the  free  port  of  Paulus  Hook 
began  to  supply  New  York  with  non-dutiable  imports. 

Thus  the  States  were  a  prey  to  one  another.  The  states- 
men of  the  day  saw  how  suicidal  the  policy,  or  rather,  the 
lack  of  policy,  was,  and  there  was  no  one  source  of  weak- 
ness that  seemed  so  fatal,  nor  the  lack  of  any  vital  principle 


HON.  JOSEPH  N.  DOLPH. 

Born  in  Watkins  co.,  New  York,  October  19,  1835;  educated  at 
kenesee  Weslyan  Seminary;  studied  law  and  admitted  to  bar  at  Bing- 
hamton  in  1861;  enlisted  in  the  "  Oregon  Escort,"  1862;  same  year 
settled  in  Portland,  Oregon ;  City  Attorney  of  Portland  and  U.  S.  Dis- 
trict Attorney  of  Oregon,  1864;  elected  to  State  Senate,  1866-68-72-74 ; 
conducted  a  large  law  business;  engaged  in  various  business  enterprises; 
elected  to  the  U.  S.  Senate,  as  a  Republican,  March  3,  1883;  re-elected 
January,  1889 ;  served  with  distinction  on  Committees  of  Claims,  Public 
Lands,  Commerce,  Foreign  Relations,  Coast  Defences ;  an  earnest,  elo- 
quent, ripened  statesman,  respected  by  the  Senate  and  honored  in  his 
State. 

(135) 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  137 

that  impelled  so  powerfully  toward  a  more  perfect  constitu- 
tion than  this  commercial  discord.  Not  even  the  flat  refusal 
of  New  Jersey  to  comply  with  an  Act  of  the  Congress,  nor 
the  open  offence  of  Massachusetts  in  raising  troops  to  crush 
Shay's  rebellion,  affected  the  public  mind  so  forcibly  and 
paved  the  way  so  directly  toward  a  stronger  central  union, 
as  the  quarrel  between  Virginia  and  Maryland  as  to  com- 
mercial rights  on  the  Chesapeake  and  Potomac.  This  last 
brought  the  Annapolis  convention  in  1786.  Hamilton, 
Madison  and  Dickinson  were  there,  and  they  saw  no  way 
of  preventing  the  subordination  of  the  States  to  foreign  in- 
fluence and  their  extinction  as  sovereign  bodies,  except  by 
creating  a  stronger  central  government  and  endowing  it  with 
powers  sufficient  for  the  settlement  of  all  such  discords. 

It  seemed  to  require  some  such  mighty  exigency  to 
move  the  States  to  their  second  independence.  There  was 
nothing  so  supreme  as  the  thought  that  colonial  independ- 
ence meant  escape  from  a  discriminative  and  ruinous  com- 
mercial policy  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain.  Search  the 
colonial  debates  through,  and  there  is  not  one  of  moment 
that  does  not  inveigh  against  the  efforts  of  England  to  en- 
rich herself  at  the  expense  of  other  nations,  and  to  complete 
her  commercial  and  industrial  supremacy  by  overriding 
their  protective  systems  and  sapping  their  powers  for  com- 
petitive and  independent  existence.  The  Declaration  of 
Independence  submits  it  to  "  a  candid  world  "  that  Great 
Britain  meant  to  establish  "  an  absolute  tyranny  over  these 
States  "  by  "  cutting  off  our  trade  with  all  parts  of  the  world," 
and  that  among  the  foremost  rights  of  a  free  people  is  the 
right  to  "  establish  commerce." 

Says  a  learned  historian :  "  The  most  fatal  defect  of  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  was  absence  of  power  to  collect 
revenue,  regulate  trade,  encourage  industry.  The  thoughts 


138  OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 

of  all  our  early  statesmen  were  turned  to  this  defect,  which 
to  them  was  the  more  glaring,  because  of  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  the  British  system.  So  paramount  was  the 
necessity  for  escape  from  industrial  and  commercial  de- 
pendence, and  so  momentous  was  deemed  the  power  to  pro- 
tect ourselves  that  Washington  confidently  looked  to  the 
trade  regulations  of  a  more  efficient  government  as  a  means 
of  giving  the  country  its  proper  weight  in  the  scale  of  em- 
pires and,  with  a  feeling  foreign  to  his  better  nature,  he 
declared  that  such  government  "  will  surely  impose  retaliat- 
ing restrictions,  to  a  certain  degree,  upon  the  trade  of 
England." 

The  proceedings  of  the  Continental  Congress  abound  in 
debates,  resolutions  and  committees,  having  for  their  object 
the  promotion  of  home  products  and  the  development  of 
home  resources.  There  seemed  to  be  no  question  among 
the  leaders  of  thought,  so  far  as  the  debates  show,  of  the 
right  and  duty  of  the  government  to  foster  industry  by 
legislative  enactment,  nor  of  the  necessity  for  a  new  govern- 
ment endowed  with  ample  power  to  provide  revenue  through 
a  tariff  and  at  the  same  time  protect  its  vital  interests. 

But  while  this  was  all  so  in  the  minds  of  statesmen,  the 
inchoate  States  were  afloat  on  the  sea  of  discord.  They  had 
industry,  commerce,  tariffs,  in  their  own  hands.  There  was 
no  uniform  import  law,  and  consequently  none  at  all.  One 
State  nullified  the  laws  of  another.  They  were,  as  Hamilton 
said,  "jarring,  jealous  and  perverse,  fluctuating  and  unhappy 
at  home,  and  weak  by  their  dissensions  in  the  eyes  of  other 
nations." 

A  prey  to  one  another,  they  were  the  natural  victims  of 
more  knowing,  designing,  older,  richer  and  advanced  nations, 
and  especially  that  one  which  sought  to  revenge  defeat  of 
arms  by  political  segregation  and  commercial  conquest, 


OUR   TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  139 

With  intelligence  and  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  arrayed 
against  free  traffic  with  foreign  nations,  there  existed  the 
hard  compulsion  of  circumstances  to  render  the  States  help- 
less. Depleted  by  a  long  war,  with  few  factories,  mills  and 
workshops,  with  limited  means  of  recuperation,  with  thirteen 
hostile  systems  of  commercial  independence,  they  were  at 
the  entire  mercy  of  the  foreign  merchant  and  manufacturer. 
There  was  absolutely  no  law  against  importations.  The  era 
was  one  of  free-trade,  uninterrupted  by  effective  statute, 
unimpaired  by  anything  except  ineffective  sentiment. 

The  consequences  must  be  faced.  Says  Carey : — "  At  the 
close  of  the  Revolution  the  trade  of  America  was  free  and 
unrestrained  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  term,  according  to 
the  theory  of  Adam  Smith,  Say,  Ricardo,  the  '  Edinburgh 
Reviewers '  and  the  authors  of  the  '  Encyclopaedia.'  Her 
ports  were  open,  with  scarcely  any  duties,  to  the  vessels 
and  merchandise  of  other  nations."  What  befell  ?  As  the 
States  were  discordant,  foreign  powers  passed  laws  as  they 
pleased  to  destroy  our  commerce.  Nearly  every  foreign 
nation  shipped  goods  into  the  country  and  dumped  them 
promiscuously  on  our  wharves.  The  consequences  followed 
which  never  fail  to  follow  such  a  state  of  things.  Competi- 
tion on  the  part  of  our  manufacturers  was  at  an  end.  They 
were  bankrupted  and  beggared.  The  merchants  whose 
importations  had  ruined  them  were  involved  in  calamity. 
Farmers,  who  had  longed  to  buy  foreign  merchandise  cheap, 
went  down  in  the  vortex  of  general  destruction. 

Said  a  statesman  of  the  day,  "  The  people  of  America 
went  to  war  to  improve  their  condition  and  throw  off  the 
burdens  which  the  colonial  system  laid  on  their  industry. 
And  when  their  independence  was  attained  they  found  it 
was  a  piece  of  parchment.  The  arm  which  had  struck  for 
it  in  the  field  was  palsied  in  the  workshop.  The  industry 


140  OUR  TARIFF   LEGISLATION. 

which  had  been  burdened  in  the  colonies  was  crushed  in  the 
free  States.  At  the  close  of  the  revolution  the  mechanics 
and  manufacturers  of  the  country  found  themselves,  in  the 
bitterness  of  their  hearts,  independent — and  ruined." 

Says  Bancroft,  of  the  year  1785,  "It  is  certain  that  the 
English  have  the  trade  of  these  States  almost  wholly  in 
their  hands,  whereby  their  influence  must  increase ;  and  a 
constantly  increasing  scarcity  of  money  begins  to  be  felt, 
since  no  ship  sails  to  England  without  large  sums  of  money 
aboard,  especially  the  English  packet  boats,  which  monthly 
take  with  them  between  forty  and  fifty  thousand  pounds  sterl- 
ing. The  scarcity  of  money  makes  the  produce  of  the  country 
cheap,  to  the  disappointment  of  farmers  and  the  discourage- 
ment of  husbandry.  Thus  the  two  classes,  the  farmer  and 
the  merchant,  that  divide  nearly  all  America,  are  discon- 
tented and  distressed." 

Said  Webster  of  this  period,  in  a  speech  delivered  in  1833, 
"  From  the  close  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution  there  came  a 
period  of  depression  and  distress  on  the  Atlantic  Coast,  such 
as  the  people  had  hardly  felt  during  the  crisis  of  the  war 
itself.  Ship-owners,  ship-builders,  mechanics,  artisans,  all 
were  destitute  of  employment  and  some  of  them  destitute 
of  bread.  British  ships  came  freely,  and  British  ships  came 
plentifully ;  while  to  American  ships  and  American  prod- 
ucts there  was  neither  protection  on  the  one  side  nor  the 
equivalent  of  reciprocal  free-trade  on  the  other.  The 
cheaper  labor  of  England  supplied  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Atlantic  shores  with  everything.  Ready-made  clothes, 
among  the  rest,  from  the  crown  of  the  head  to  the  soles  of 
the  feet,  were  for  sale  in  every  city.  All  these  things  came 
free  from  any  general  system  of  imposts.  Some  of  the 
States  attempted  to  establish  their  own  partial  systems,  but 
they  failed.," 


HON.  HENRY  M.  TELLER. 

Born  in  Allegany  co.,  N.  Y.,  May  23,  1830 ,  admitted  to  bar  in 
N.  Y. ;  removed  to  Illinois,  1858 ;  thence  to  Colorado,  1861 ;  on  admis- 
sion of  Colorado  to  Statehood,  1876,  was  elected  to  U.  S.  Senate  as  a 
Republican;  re-elected  to  U.  S.  Senate  for  the  term  1876-1882, 
appointed  Secretary  of  Interior  by  President  Arthur  in  1882,  and  served 
till  March  3,  1885;  re-elected  to  Senate  in  1885,  and  again  in  1890, 
Chairman  of  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections;  member  of  Com- 
mittees on  Judiciary,  Private  Lnnd  Claims  and  Indian  Tribes. 

(142) 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  143 

There  is  no  history  of  America  covering  this  time  but 
what  repeats  the  above  views,  over  and  over  again,  and  if 
anything,  in  still  more  lugubrious  terms. 

The  situation  simply  affirmed  what  Lord  Goderich  said 
in  Parliament : — "  Other  nations  know  that  what  we  English 
mean  by  free-trade  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than,  by  means 
of  the  great  advantages  we  enjoy,  to  get  the  monopoly  of 
all  the  markets  of  other  nations  for  our  manufactures,  and 
to  prevent  them,  one  and  all,  from  ever  becoming  manufac- 
turing nations." 

With  equal  sincerity  and  emphasis  David  Syme,  another 
member  of  Parliament,  declared  : — "  In  any  quarter  of  the 
globe  where  competition  shows  itself  as  likely  to  interfere 
with  English  monopoly,  immediately  the  capital  of  her 
manufacturers  is  massed  in  that  particular  quarter,  and 
goods  are  exported  there  in  large  quantities,  and  sold  at 
such  prices  that  outside  competition  is  immediately  counted 
out.  English  manufacturers  have  been  known  to  export 
goods  to  a  distant  market  and  sell  them  under  cost  for  years 
with  a  view  of  getting  the  market  into  their  own  hands 
again,  and  keep  that  foreign  market,  and  step  in  for  the 
whole  when  prices  revive." 

END    OF   THE    FREE-TRADE    ERA. 

It  became  manifest  to  even  the  dullest  mind  that  America 
was  about  to  lose  her  political  independence  in  the  mire  of 
industrial  and  commercial  subserviency.  Says  Mason  : — 

"  Depreciation  seized  upon  every  species  of  property. 
Legal  pressure  to  enforce  payment  of  debts  caused  alarming 
sacrifices  of  both  personal  and  real-estate ;  spread  distress  far 
and  wide  among  the  masses  of  the  people ;  aroused  in  the 
hearts  of  the  sufferers  the  bitterest  feelings  against  lawyers, 
the  courts  and  the  whole  creditor  class ;  led  to  a  popular 


144  OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 

clamor  for  stay-laws  and  various  other  radical  measures  of 
supposed  relief,  and  finally  filled  the  whole  land  with  excite- 
ment, apprehension  and  sense  of  weakness  and  a  tendency 
to  despair  of  the  Republic.  Inability  to  pay  even  necessary 
taxes  became  general,  and  often  these  could  be  collected 
only  by  levy  and  sale  of  the  homestead." 

Figures  began  to  pile  up  and  to  tell  their  awful'tale.  In 
1784-85,  imports  from  Great  Britain  alone  swelled  to 
#30,000,000,  while  our  exports  reached  barely  $9,000,000. 
In  Hildreth's  history  we  read :  "  The  large  importation  of 
foreign  goods,  subject  to  little  or  no  duty,  and  sold  at  peace 
prices,  was  proving  ruinous  to  all  those  domestic  manufac- 
tures and  mechanical  employments  which  the  non-consump- 
tion agreements  and  the  war  had  created  and  fostered. 
Immediately  after  the  peace,  the  country  had  been  flooded 
with  imported  goods,  and  debts  had  been  unwarily  con- 
tracted, for  which  there  was  no  means  to  pay." 

In  Maine  a  Convention  was  held  for  the  purpose  of  revolt- 
ing from  Massachusetts  on  account  of  the  prevailing  distress. 
In  New  Hampshire  the  people  surrounded  the  Legislative 
hall  and  declared  the  body  should  not  adjourn  till  it  passed 
a  measure  to  absolve  the  people  from  debt.  Shay's  rebellion 
in  Massachusetts  was  but  a  protest  against  suffering  on  the 
part  of  the  people.  In  speaking  of  its  causes  Hildreth  says : 
— "  The  want  of  a  certain  and  remunerative  market  for  the 
produce  of  the  farmer,  and  the  depression  of  domestic  manu- 
factures by  competition  from  abroad." 

In  Connecticut  alone  five  hundred  farms  were  offered  for 
sale  to  pay  taxes.  The  condition  was  the  same  in  Pennsyl- 
vania and  the  Carolinas.  Real  estate  found  no  market. 
Debtors  were  compelled  to  close  out  at  one-fourth  the  value 
of  their  lands.  Men  distrusted  one  another.  The  best 
securities  were  offered  at  half  their  face  value. 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  145 

At  length  the  newspapers  of  the  period,  without  regard  to 
party,  began  to  clamor  for  change.  Pamphleteers  arose  with- 
out number,  and  joined  in  the  cry  of  necessity  for  a  change. 
Merchants,  business  men,  farmers,  artisans,  laborers  echoed 
the  universal  sentiment : — "  We  have  had  enough  of  free- 
trade.  It  has  but  one  meaning  for  America,  and  that  is 
utter  neglect  of  ourselves  and  the  forced  sale  of  our  ener- 
gies, opportunities  and  resources  to  the  older  and  better 
equipped  nations.  We  have  won  political  independence  at 
a  cost  of  seven  years  of  war,  we  have  yet  to  win  the  still 
longer  battle  for  industrial  and  commercial  independence, 
or  else  the  victory  of  foreign  nations  over  us  will  be  greater 
than  our  recent  victory  over  them." 

Every  one  saw  what  was  patent  to  John  Stuart  Mill,  and 
what  he  incorporated  into  his  "  Principles  of  Political  Econ- 
omy," that :  "  What  prevented  the  rapid  recuperation  of  the 
United  States,  after  the  peace  of  1783,  was  the  system  of 
free  foreign  trade,  allowed  to  add  its  devastations  upon  in- 
dustry to  those  of  the  Revolution." 

Educated  by  a  dreadful  experience,  it  became  the  convic- 
tion of  all  parties  that  the  power  of  industrial  and  commer- 
cial protection,  so  conspicuously  and  fatally  absent  in  the 
Articles  of  Confederation,  must  repose  somewhere.  No 
other  thought  impelled  more  powerfully  toward  a  Union  of 
States  under  a  Federal  Constitution.  "  Four  causes,"  says 
Bancroft, "  above  others,  exercised  a  steady  and  commanding 
influence.  The  New  Republic,  as  one  nation,  must  have 
power  to  regulate  its  foreign  commerce  ;  to  colonize  its  large 
domain  ;  to  provide  an  adequate  revenue  ;  to  establish  justice 
in  domestic  trade  by  prohibiting  the  separate  States  from 
impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts." 

From  this  time  on  till  the  Constitution  became  a  fact, 
September  17,  1787,  or  rather,  until  the  Government  became 


146  OUR  TARIFF   LEGISLATION. 

a  fact,  April  30,  1789,  a  unanimous  political  and  business 
sentiment  persistently  and  eloquently  urged  a  stronger 
government,  imbued  with  the  paternal  instinct,  able  and  will- 
ing to  defend  and  encourage  home  industries  and  interests. 
State  responded  to  State  in  this  behalf;  statesmen  echoed 
the  complaints  and  arguments  of  statesmen.  Every  politi- 
cal school  joined  in  the  pleas  for  industrial  and  commercial 
independence.  One  of  the  most  assuring  phases  of  the 
situation  was  the  entire  unanimity  of  artificers,  mechanics 
and  working  men,  who  gathered  in  large  assemblies,  and  by 
means  of  public  speeches,  whose  logic  was  even  more  forci- 
ble than  those  of  learned  statesmen,  and  by  printed  resolu- 
tions of  great  vigor  and  aptness,  demanded  exemption  from 
the  degrading  and  ruinous  competition  forced  upon  them  by 
the  free  and  inordinate  influx  of  foreign  goods,  upon  whose 
manufacture  they  depended  for  a  living. 

Under  these  auspices  the  New  Constitution  took  shape, 
and  Clause  1  of  Section  VIII.  provided  that  "  Congress 
shall  have  power  to  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts 
and  excises,  and  to  pay  the  debts  and  provide  for  the 
common  defence  and  general  welfare  of  the  United  States." 

In  order  to  achieve  what  was  equally  important  in  an  in- 
dustrial and  commercial  sense,  viz.,  perfect  interchange  of 
goods  and  products  between  the  States  themselves,  or  in 
other  words  "  free-trade  "  between  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Union,  it  was  ordained  that  Congress  should  never  have  the 
power  to  levy  "  a  tax  or  duty  on  articles  exported  from  any 
State." 

Thus  endowed,  the  New  Government  started  on  its  career. 
The  writers  of  the  Federalist,  Hamilton,  Madison  and  others, 
saw  in  the  above  clauses  sufficient  power  to  remedy  the 
evils  complained  of,  and  they  eloquently  assured  their  coun- 


HON.  JOSEPH  R.   HAWLEY. 

Born  in  Richmond  co.,  N.  C.,  October  31st,  1826;  educated  at 
Hamilton  College,  N.  Y. ;  admitted  to  bar  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  1850; 
editor  of  Hartford  Evening  Press  and  Conrant  from  1857  to  present; 
enlisted  in  army  April  15,  1861;  mustered  out  as  Brevet  Major-General 
January  15,  1866;  elected  Governor  of  State,  as  a  Republican,  April. 
J866;  Delegate  to  Republican  National  Conventions,  1872-76-80; 
President  of  Centennial  Exhibition  ;  elected  to  42cl  Congress,  November, 
1872 ;  re-elected  to  43d  and  46th  Congresses ;  elected  to  U.  S.  Senate, 
as  a  Republican,  March  4,  1881 ;  re-elected  in  1887  ;  Chairman  of  Com- 
mittee on  Military  Affairs,  and  member  of  Committees  on  Coast  Defences, 
Printing  and  Railroads. 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  149 

trymen  that  the  protection  they  demanded  for  their  infant  in- 
dustries could  now  be  given  beyond  doubt. 

Says  Bishop  :  "  That  the  productive  classes  regarded  the 
Constitution  of  1787  as  conferring  the  power  and  right  of 
protection  to  the  infant  manufactures  of  the  country  is  mani- 
fest from  the  jubilant  feeling  excited  in  various  quarters 
upon  the  public  ratification  of  that  instrument." 

THE   FIRST   TARIFF   ACT. 

The  first  petition  presented  to  the  First  Congress,  in 
March,  1789,  came  from  700  mechanics  and  tradesmen  of 
Baltimore.  It  lamenffed  the  decline  of  manufactures  since 
the  Revolution,  and  prayed  that  the  efficient  Government 
with  which  they  were,  for  the  first  time,  blessed,  would 
render  the  country  "  independent  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name  " 
by  early  attention  to  the  encouragement  and  protection  of 
American  manufactures  and  by  imposing  on  "  all  foreign 

articles  which  could  not  be  made  in  America  such  duties  as 

* 
weuld  give  a  decided  preference  to  their  labors" 

Leagues  of  artisans  and  tradesmen,  merchants  and  manu- 
facturers were  formed  in  all  the  leading  cities  and  industrial 
centres,  for  the  purpose  of  urging  on  Congress  an  early  in- 
terpretation of  the  new  powers  conferred  by  the  Constitu- 
tion in  the  interest  of  industry  and  commerce.  Charleston 
shipwrights  followed  the  Baltimore  artisans  with  a  powerful 
petition  to  the  First  Congress.  Similar  petitions  came  in 
from  Boston,  New  York  and  Philadelphia. 

As  already  stated,  the  universal  sentiment  of  the  hour 
was  that  the  Constitution  gave  Congress  ample  power  to 
regulate  commerce  by  a  tariff  for  revenue,  for  protection  or 
for  prohibition,  as  the  case  might  be.  The  words  "  for  the 
ragulatron  of  commerce"  had  a  well-understood  meaning 
among  American  statesmen.  They  were  the  words  used  in 


ISO  OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 

English  enactments  when  like  objects  were  in  view  and 
when  like  powers  were  conferred,  and  they  had  been  in- 
terpreted so  often  both  on  the  bench  and  in  actual  practice 
that  rational  dissent  to  their  meaning  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. Hamilton,  Franklin,  Madison,  Jefferson,  Monroe,  ac- 
corded perfectly  as  to  the  nature  of  the  power  and  the  ob- 
ject of  the  clause.  Gallatin  said  that  on  his  entrance  into 
public  life  he  found  but  one  sentiment  respecting  the  clause 
among  statesmen.  There  was  then  no  such  objection  as 
afterwards  arose,  and  still  exists,  and  which  is  to  the  effect 
that  a  power  to  raise  revenue  by  a  tariff  does  not  carry  the 
power  to  protect  home  manufactures%nd  industries. 

Said  Washington  in  his  first  annual  message,  "  The  safety 
and  interest  of  a  free  people  require  that  they  promote  such 
manufactures  as  tend  to  render  them  independent  of  others 
for  essentials,  particularly  military  supplies." 

The  question  of  a  tariff  was  thus  injected  into  the  First 
Congress,  and  became  the  first  theme  for  discussion.  It  was 
a  Congress  which  embraced  many  farmers,  merchants  and 
manufacturers,  an  industrial  rather  than  professional  Con- 
gress, though,  of  course,  containing  many  illustrious  lawyers 
and  statesmen.  That  first  great  question  thrust  upon  it  has 
survived  all  others,  and  is  as  momentous  to-day  as  ever. 
The  other  class  of  questions  which  drew  fiercer,  but  not 
more  learned,  discussion,  such  as  nullification,  the  national 
bank,  slavery,  secession,  reconstruction,  has  happily  found  a 
grave. 

After  the  passage  of  a  bill  regulating  the  oath  of  office, 
the  Congress  took  up  the  tariff  bill,  and  it  became  the  first 
general  Act  of  the  First  Congress.  Its  preamble  fore- 
shadowed its  purport :  "  Whereas,  it  is  necessary  for  the 
support  of  the  Government,  for  the  discharge  of  the  debt 
of  the  United  States,  and  for  the  encouragement  and  pro- 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  151 

tection  of  manufactures,  that  duties  be  laid  on  imported 
goods,  therefore  be  it  enacted,"  etc. 

This  preamble  drew  no  dissent.  Statesmen  North  and 
South  gave  it  sanction.  The  bill  itself  drew  the  widest 
range  of  debate,  and  the  learning  brought  into  the  discus- 
sion of  its  merits  has  never  been  surpassed  in  considering 
the  same  subject,  though  of  course  facts,  statistics  and  ex- 
perience have  changed  the  lines  of  argument,  and  remodelled 
theories.  This  learning  not  only  bore  on  all  the  economic 
phases  of  the  question,  as  then  understood,  but  it  was  ex- 
haustive of  the  principle  that  the  Constitution  designed  to 
secure  to  the  infant  manufactures  and  struggling  industries 
of  the  country  the  protection  they  needed  against  the  riper 
experience  and  cheaper  labor  of  Europe. 

The  debates  upon  this  bill  were  not  as  to  the  necessity 
for  protection,  nor  as  to  the  fact  that  the  legislation  pro- 
posed was  or  was  not  in  principle  the  best  for  the  purpose. 
They  were  rather  upon  the  question  of  general  method  of 
procedure,  and  as  to  whether  or  not  the  States  might  be 
robbed  of  some  of  their  reserved  rights  if  too  liberal  a  con- 
struction were  thus  early  put  upon  the  Constitution.  The 
question  of  what  rate  of  duty  would  raise  the  required 
revenue  and  what  would  insure  the  needed  protection  was 
also  a  novel  one  and  the  subject  of  animated  discussion,  as 
it  broke  entirely  new  ground,  and  was  beyond  the  range  of 
all  precedents  and  experience.  Among  the  leading  debaters 
were  James  Madison,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  Charles  Carroll, 
Rufus  King,  Oliver  Ellsworth,  Fisher  Ames,  Roger  Sher- 
man, James  Trumbull,  and  others,  and  these  all  impressed 
their  genius  and  wisdom  on  the  First  American  Tariff  Act. 

The  Act  became  a  law  by  the  signature  of  Washington, 
affixed  July  4,  1789.  The  rates  of  duty  provided  by  the 
Act  were,  in  modern  acceptation,  ridiculously  low,  yet  as 


152  OUR  TARIFF   LEGISLATION. 

the  legislation  was  entirely  experimental,  and  as  there  were 
no  precedents  to  steer  by,  there  was  general  acquiescence  in 
the  provisions,  not  only  as  insuring  revenue  but  as  estab- 
lishing protection.  The  class  of  articles  subjected  to  duty 
is  the  best  guide  to  the  spirit  of  the  Act.  It  imposed  the 
highest  duties  on  those  manufactures  and  industries  which 
were  deemed  most  in  need  and  most  worthy  of  encourage- 
ment. They  embraced  the  iron  and  steel  of  Pennsylvania ; 
the  glass  of  Maryland ;  the  cotton,  indigo  and  tobacco  of 
the  Southern  States ;  the  wool,  leather,  paper  and  fisheries 
of  the  Eastern  States.  There  was  hardly  an  article  intro- 
duced into  it  whose  freedom  from  foreign  competition  had 
not  been  petitioned  for,  and  the  desirability  of  whose  home 
growth  or  manufacture  had  not  been  made  clear  to  the 
majority  in  Congress. 

A  powerful  spur  to  the  passage  of  this  Act  had  been  the 
oft-repeated  boast  of  Great  Britain  that  while  America  had 
achieved  political  independence,  it  had  been  reconquered 
commercially,  and  was  a  more  abject  and  useful  appendage 
than  before.  It  was  therefore  quite  natural  that  the  friends 
of  the  Act,  and  those  who  hoped  most  from  its  provisions, 
should  regard  it  as  in  the  nature  of  a  second  Declaration 
of  Independence,  and  as  far  more  valuable  to  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  people  for  the  spirit  it  evinced  and  the  possi- 
bilities it  contained,  than  for  the  rates  of  duty  it  established. 

This  Act  was  followed  the  next  year,  1790,  by  Hamilton's 
lengthy  and  able  report  upon  "  Commerce  and  Manufac- 
tures." This  report  was  designed  to  emphasize  the  prin- 
ciple of  protective  legislation.  It  embraced  all  the  learning 
and  experience  of  the  older  nations  bearing  upon  the  sub- 
ject, and  it  served  the  purpose  of  reconciling  an  almost 
universal  party  sentiment  to  the  operations  of  the  Act  of 
1789,  while  it  more  than  ever  committed  the  budding  nation 


OUR  TARIFF   LEGISLATION.  15; 

to  the  doctrine  he  advocated.  It  was  in  this  report  that  ht 
enunciated  the  principle  which  protectionists  of  to-day  cTains 
to  be  fully  proved  by  experience,  to  wit,  that  internal  compe- 
tition is  an  effectual  corrective  of  monopoly,  and  in  the  end 
tends  to  a  lower  scale  of  prices  for  protected  manufactures 
than  prevailed  for  foreign.  His  interpretation  of  the  powers 
conferred  on  the  Government  by  the  clause  of  the  Consti- 
tution relating  to  taxes,  revenue  and  the  common  defence 
has  been  accepted  by  all  political  parties,  and  it  now  pre- 
vails without  regard  to  party  lines. 

This  Act  of  1789  and  this  report  of  1790  form  the  begin- 
ning of  an  historic  and  practical  protective  era  in  the  United 
States.  It  was  an  era  which  lasted,  under  varying  condi- 
tions, which  we  shall  note,  up  until  1816. 

The  previous  session  of  the  First  Congress  had  been  an 
extra  one.  It  was  now,  January  4,  1790,  in  First  Regular 
Session  at  Philadelphia  and  had  received  Hamilton's  cele- 
brated report.  Federals  and  Anti-Federals  divided  over  the 
payment  of  the  debts,  especially  those  of  the  States,  and  the 
doctrine  of  open  or  close  construction  of  the  Constitution 
was  fast  shaping  up  political  lines.  However,  there  was 
very  little  division  of  sentiment  on  the  propriety  of  increas- 
ing the  rates  of  duty  provided  by  the  Act  of  July  4,  1789, 
and  they  were  increased  by  the  Act  of  August  10,  1790, 
which  went  into  effect  January  I,  1791. 

During  the  Second  Session  of  the  First  Congress,  which 
opened  October  24,  1791,  at  Philadelphia,  there  was  much 
excitement  owing  to  opposition  to  the  Excise  Laws  of  the 
previous  session  and  the  rebellion  against  them  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, known  as  the  "  Whiskey  Rebellion."  The  animosities 
thus  aroused  served  to  widen  the  gap  between  the  Federals 
and  Anti-Federals,  but  not  enough  to  defeat  further  tariff 
legislation.  The  Act  of  May  2,  1792,  was  passed  without 


154  OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 

much  difficulty.  It  took  effect  July  I,  1792, and  it  increased 
the'  ad  valorem  rates  of  duty  from  2^/2  to  5  per  cent.  This 
was  the  third  Tariff  Act  in  three  years,  and  the  drift  of  legisla- 
tion was  in  favor  of  higher  and  more  protective  duties. 

During  the  First  Session  of  the  Third  Congress  which 
met  December  2,  1793,  party  lines  became  still  more  distinct 
over  matters  of  tariff  legislation.  The  Anti-Federals  had 
now  taken  the  name  of  Republicans,  and,  though  without  a 
definite  policy  of  their  own,  found  means  of  coherence  and 
growth  in  opposing  Federal  doctrines.  Yet  it  was  a  com- 
paratively easy  matter  to  pass  the  Tariff  Act  of  June  7,  1794, 
which  took  effect  July  i,  1794.  All  parties  were  agreed  as 
to  the  necessity  of  providing  additional  revenue,  which  the 
increased  ad  valorem  rates  in  the  Act  were  designed  to 
secure.  All  parties  were  also  agreed  that  a  tariff  was  the 
quietest  and  easiest  way  of  attaining  such  revenue,  and  the 
Anti-Federals,  or  Republicans,  who  had  violently  opposed 
the  excise  laws,  were  even  more  fully  committed  to  a  tariff 
as  a  revenue  measure  than  the  Federals.  They,  however, 
began  to  draw  the  line  when  the  doctrine  of  protection  was 
broached.  Not  all,  of  course,  but  a  few  whose  strict  con- 
struction notions  dominated  their  economic  views. 

The  next  tariff  legislation  was  the  Act  of  May  13,  1800, 
which  took  effect  July  I,  1800.  This  legislation  was  not 
difficult  and  was  still  in  the  line  of  protective  duties.  It 
raised  the  duties  on  sugar  half  a  cent  a  pound  and  on  silks 
2^/2  per  cent. 

On  March  26,  1804,  an  amended  Tariff  Act  was  passed 
which  took  effect  July  1,  1804.  It  niust  be  remembered 
that  now  the  country  had  undergone  a  political  revolution, 
that  the  Republicans  were  in  power  in  Congress  and  that 
Jefferson  was  President.  Yet  the  Tariff  Act  of  1804  was  in 
the  line  of  increased  duties. 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  155 

All  the  Acts  thus  far  were  amendatory  of  the  original  Act 
of  1789,  and  were  helpful  of  the  provisions  and  operations 
of  that  Act.  As  sufficient  time  had  elapsed  to  form  opinions 
of  the  workings  of  that  Act,  or  in  other  words,  to  witness 
the  effects  of  incorporating  protective  tariff  legislation  into 
our  institutions,  it  will  be  profitable  to  turn  to  the  sentiment 
of  the  times  respecting  it. 

In  his  seventh  annual  message,  Washington  said : — "  Our 
agriculture,  commerce  and  manufactures  prosper  beyond 
example.  Every  part  of  the  Union  displays  indications  of 
rapid  and  various  improvement,  and  with  burdens  so  light 
as  scarcely  to  be  perceived." 

John  Adams  in  his  last  annual  message  said  : — "  I  observe 
with  much  satisfaction  that  the  product  of  the  revenue  dur- 
ing the  present  year  is  more  considerable  than  at  any  former 
period." 

Thomas  Jefferson  in  his  second  annual  message  said : — 
"  To  protect  the  manufactures  adapted  to  our  circumstances 
is  one  of  the  land-marks  by  which  we  should  guide  our- 
selves." 

The  provisions  of  the  Act  of  1789  and  its  amendments 
had,  in  their  practical  workings,  so  far  exceeded  expecta- 
tions, that  in  1806  Jefferson  found  the  revenues  more  than 
ample  for  the  requirements  of  the  Government.  In  speak- 
ing of  the  surplus  he  said  in  his  sixth  annual  message : — 
"  Shall  we  suppress  the  imposts  and  give  that  advantage  to 
foreign  over  our  domestic  manufactures  ?  On  a  few  articles 
of  more  general  and  necessary  use,  the  suppression,  in  due 
season,  will  doubtless  be  right,  but  the  great  mass  of  the 
articles  on  which  imposts  are  laid  are  foreign  luxuries, 
purchased  only  by  the  rich,  who  can  afford  themselves  the 
use  of  them." 

In  1809  he  wrote  to  Humphrey  thus : — "  My  own  idea  is 


156  OUR  TARIFF   LEGISLATION. 

that  we  should  encourage  home  manufactures  to  the  extent 
of  our  own  home  consumption  of  everything  of  which  we 
raise  the  raw  materials." 

Said  Madison  in  his  special  message  of  May  23,  1809: — 
"  It  will  be  worthy  of  the  just  and  provident  care  of  Congress 
to  make  such  further  alterations  in  the  laws  as  will  more 
especially  protect  and  foster  the  several  branches  of  manu- 
factures which  have  been  recently  instituted  or  extended  by 
the  laudable  exertions  of  our  citizens." 

Says  Harriman  in  writing  of  the  Tariff  of  1789: — "Agri- 
culture became  more  extensive  and  prosperous ;  Commerce 
increased  with  wonderful  rapidity ;  old  industries  were  re- 
vived and  many  new  ones  established ;  our  merchant  navy 
revived  and  multiplied ;  all  branches  of  domestic  trade  pros- 
pered ;  our  revenues  exceeded  the  wants  of  government ; 
the  people  became  contented  and  industrious;  the  whole 
country  was  on  the  high  road  to  wealth  and  prosperity." 

THE  EMBARGO  AND  TARIFF  OF  l8l2. 

Now  while  many  provisions  in  the  Tariff  Acts  up  to  1808 
embraced  the  protective  doctrine,  such  as  duties  on  hemp, 
cordage,  glass,  nails,  salt  and  various  manufactures  of  iron, 
as  has  been  noted  the  duties  were  low,  according  to  present 
standards.  Protection  of  the  textiles  and  of  unmanufactured 
iron  had  not  been  much  thought  of.  But  they  were  soon 
to  draw  attention  and  become  the  great  subjects  of  the  pro- 
tective controversy. 

The  year  1808  marks  a  turning-point  in  the  industrial 
history  of  our  country.  The  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees  of 
Napoleon  and  the  English  Orders  in  Council  led  to  the 
Embargo  Act  of  December,  1807.  The  Non-Intercourse 
Act  followed  it  in  1809.  War  was  declared  against  Great 


HON.  WILLIAM  R  VILAS. 

Born  at  Chelsea,  Vt.,  July  9,  1840;  moved  to  Madison,  Wis.,  1851: 
graduated  at  State  University,  1858;  studied  law  at  University  of  Al- 
liany,  N.  Y.,  1800,  and  admitted  to  bnrs  of  New  York  and  Wisconsin  , 
Megan  practice  at  Madison,  July  9,  I860;  entered  Union  army,  and 
mustered  out  as  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  23d  Reg.  Wis.  Vols. ;  a  Professor 
in  Law  Department  of  State  University  since  1868;  Regent  of  same, 
1880-85;  member  Board  of  Revision  of  Statutes,  1878  ;  elected  to  Wis- 
consin Legislature,  18*5  ;  delegate  to  Democratic  National  Conventions, 
1876-80-84;  appointed  Postmaster-General  by  President  Cleveland, 
March  7,  1885;  appointed  Secretary  of  Interior,  January  16,  1888; 
elected  to  United  States  Senate,  January  28,  1891  ;  member  of  Com- 
mittees on  Claims,  Civil  Service,  Indian  Affairs,  Pensions  and  Quad- 
ro-Centennial. 

('57) 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  159 

Britain  in  1812.  On  July  i,  i8i2,the  Tariff  Act  was  passed, 
which  became  a  law  immediately. 

The  passage  of  this  Act  was  strongly  urged  by  Madison 
in  his  message  to  the  Twelfth  Congress  : — "  As  a  means  to 
preserve  and  promote  the  manufactures  which  have  sprung 
into  existence  and  attained  an  unparalleled  maturity  through- 
out the  United  States  during  the  period  of  the  European 
wars."  The  younger  leaders  of  the  Republican  party  took 
up  Madison's  request  and  were  prepared  to  go  to  any  length 
to  grant  it.  Calhoun  and  Lowndes  joined  their  logic  to 
Clay's  eloquence  in  favor  of  the  doctrine  that  protection  to 
home  industries  should  no  longer  occupy  a  place  secondary 
to  the  revenue  idea.  South  Carolina  became  the  highest 
protection  State  in  the  Union,  England  having  levied  a  duty 
on  raw  cotton.  The  entire  Republican  party  swung  away 
from  its  strict  construction  notions  and  became  such  liberal 
interpreters  as  that  they  quoted  with  the  utmost  favor  the 
report  of  Hamilton  upon  which  the  earlier  Tariff  Acts  were 
based.  The  Federals  were  dazed  with  the  situation,  and, 
failing  to  see  anything  good  in  their  opponents,  quite  forgot 
their  own  traditions,  and  swung,  under  the  lead  of  Webster, 
quite  to  the  anti-protection  side  of  the  controversy. 

Out  of  the  confused  situation  came  the  "American  Idea" 
and  the  Whig  party,  which  was  Clay's  outlet  from  the  strict 
construction  columns.  The  Tariff  Act  of  the  session — a  Re- 
publican, or,  as  some  have  it,  a  Democratic  Act — marks 
the  highest  rates  of  duty  reached  from  the  foundation 
of  the  government  up  till  1842.  It  practically  doubled  the 
rates  existing  before.  Sugar  went  from  2^  cents  per  pound 
to  5  cents;  coffee  from  5  cents  to  10  cents;  tea  from  18 
cents  to  36;  pig  iron  from  17^  per  cent,  to  30  per  cent.; 
bar  iron  from  17^  per  cent,  to  30;  glass  from  22^  per 
cent,  to  40;  manufactures  of  cotton  from  17}^  per  cent,  to 


160  OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 

30;  woolens  from  17  per  cent,  to  30;  silk  from  15  per  cent, 
to  25. 

The  Embargo  Act  of  1808,  the  Non-Intercourse  Act  of 
1809,  and  the  highly  protective  Tariff  Act  of  1812, constituted 
a  series  of  restrictive  measures  which  had  the  efficacy  of 
prohibitive  duties.  They  gave  an  enormous  stimulus  to  all 
branches  of  industry  whose  products  had  before  been  im- 
ported. Establishments  for  the  manufacture  of  cottons, 
woolens,  iron,  glass,  pottery  and  other  articles,  sprang  up 
as  if  by  magic.  The  success  of  this  extreme  protection 
formed  the  basis  of  that  powerful  movement  which  subse- 
quently became  the  heritage  of  the  Whig  party,  and  which 
had  for  its  object  the  decided  limitation  of  foreign  competi- 
tion both  as  to  manufactures  and  commerce. 

TARIFF   ACT   OF     l8l6. 

The  logic  of  the  Tariff  Act  of  1816  is  not  understood  by 
economists,  nor  can  it  be  accounted  for  by  any  one  except 
upon  the  theory  that  having  passed  through  a  war,  the 
country  would  probably  settle  back  into  some  such  condi- 
tion as  existed  prior  to  1 808.  The  controlling  element  in 
Congress  was  still  the  young  element,  the  element  respon- 
sible for  the  war  and  therefore  responsible  for  its  results. 
They  had  proven  themselves  avowed  protectionists  by  the 
passage  of  the  Tariff  Act  of  1 8 1 2,  and  by  the  favor  with  which 
they  regarded  the  new  manufactures  which  had  arisen. 
They  were  still  willing  to  assist  them,  for  they  clung  to  fair 
duties  in  the  Act  of  April  27,  1816,  on  those  goods  in 
which  the  most  interest  was  felt,  as  in  textile  fabrics. 

But  here  the  fatality  which  overhung  the  Act  came  in. 
Cotton  and  woolen  goods  were  to  pay  a  duty  of  25  per  cent. 
— a  protective  duty — till  1819.  After  that  they  were  to  pay 
20  per  cent,  On  some  other  classes  of  goods  the  duties 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  161 

were  decreased  directly,  on  others  increased.  As  to  the 
textiles,  Calhoun  urged  strongly  the  argument  in  favor  of 
protecting  young  industries,  and  at  the  same  time  limiting 
the  protection,  after  a  period  when  they  ought  to  be  on  their 
feet. 

As  a  whole  the  Act  of  1816  was  protective,  but  it  looked 
to  a  period  only  three  years  off,  when  it  would  no  longer  be 
so.  This  was  its  misfortune.  It  prepared  foreign  nations 
for  our  market.  Though  our  breadstuff's,  provisions,  cotton 
and  every  product  of  the  soil  were  high  in  price ;  though 
wages  and  rents  were  high ;  the  currency  was  very  weak 
and  unsettled.  Home  competition  had  reduced  the  price 
of  our  manufactured  products.  The  manufacturers  of  Great 
Britain  found  their  warehouses  bursting  with  wares.  They 
looked  with  awe  on  the  American  situation,  which  revealed 
to  them  the  fact  that  our  home  industries  had  robbed  them 
of  a  market.  This  must  not  be.  Those  industries  are  only 
tentative.  By  1819,  when  the  duties  of  1816  reach  their 
minimum,  they  can  no  longer  survive.  We  will  begin  the 
crushing  process  now.  Said  Lord  Brougham  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  "  It  is  well  worth  while  to  Incur  a  loss  upon 
our  first  exportation,  in  order,  by  the  glut,  to  stifle  in  the 
cradle,  those  infant  manufactures  in  the  United  States,  which 
the  war  has  forced  into  existence." 

Great  Britain  began  to  unload  her  surplus  manufactures 
upon  our  shores  at  far  below  cost.  They  were  goods  that 
were  not  new,  nor  fashionable,  nor  in  demand  at  home.  The 
protective  features  of  the  Act  of  1816  were  insufficient  to 
stay  the  flood.  More  than  twice  the  quantity  were  imported 
that  could  be  consumed.  Great  depression  in  business  set 
in.  Bankruptcy  became  general.  The  near  approach  of 
1819,  when  the  minimum  rates  of  duty  should  go  into  effect, 
but  encouraged  the  inflow  of  foreign  products.  Says 


i6a  OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 

Thomas  H.  Benton,  "  No  price  for  property;  no  sales  ex- 
cept those  of  the  sheriff  and  marshal ;  no  purchasers  at 
execution  sales  save  the  creditor  or  some  money  hoarder ; 
no  employment  for  industry ;  no  sale  for  the  products  of  the 
farm ;  no  sound  of  the  hammer  save  that  of  the  auctioneer 
knocking  down  property.  Distress  was  the  universal  cry 
of  the  people ;  relief,  the  universal  demand,  was  thundered 
at  the  doors  of  Legislatures,  State  and  Federal." 

This  condition  of  affairs  appalled  Congress  and  brought 
about  the  Tariff  Act  of  1818,  which  simply  extended  the 
already  ineffective  provisions  of  the  Act  of  1816  for  a  period 
of  seven  years  and  placed  some  few  free  articles  on  the  duti- 
able list.  It  did  not  prove  remedial  to  the  extent  expected 
and  the  panic  of  1817-19  extended  over  a  period  of  several 
years. 

TARIFF   ACT   OF    1824. 

The  sad  condition  of  affairs,  before  described,  rendered 
relief  necessary.  The  liberal  side  of  the  Republican  party 
held  the  ascendant  in  the  Eighteenth  Congress,  December 
i,  1823,  and  elected  Clay  Speaker  of  the  House.  In  his 
message,  President  Monroe  not  only  announced  the  cele- 
brated "  Monroe  Doctrine,"  but  inclined  to  the  popular 
faction  of  his  party  on  matters  of  protection  and  internal 
revenue.  He  urgently  recommended  "  additional  protection 
to  those  articles  which  we  are  prepared  to  manufacture." 

A  bill  was  framed  and  debated  for  two  months.  Calhoun 
who  had  deserted  Clay,  Daniel  Webster  and  John  Randolph, 
led  the  free-trade  forces.  Andrew  Jackson  and  James 
Buchanan  were  among  the  strongest  advocates  of  the  bill. 
It  did  not  fix  rates  as  high  as  the  Act  of  1812,  but  it  recog- 
nized the  doctrine  of  protection  more  distinctly  than  any 
former  Act.  The  strict  constructionists  urged  their  old 
argument  against  the  constitutionality  of  protection  and,  for 


HON.  GEORGE  GRAHAM  VEST. 

Born  at  Frankfort,  Ky.,  December  6,  1830;  graduated  at  Centre  Col- 
lege, Ky.,  1848,  and  at  Law  Department  of  Transylvania  University, 
1853;  same  year  moved  to  Missouri  and  began  practice  of  law;  Presi- 
dential Elector  on  Democratic  ticket,  1860;  member  of  Missouri  Legis- 
lature, 1860-61 ;  served  for  two  years  as  member  of  Confederate 
Congress,  and  one  year  in  Confederate  Senate ;  elected  to  U.  S. 
Senate,  as  a  Democrat,  1879 ;  re-elected  1885  and  1890 ;  member  of 
Committees  on  Transportation,  Commerce,  Judiciary,  Public  Buildings 
and  Grounds,  and  Quadro-Centeiimal. 

(-63) 


OUR  TARIFF   LEGISLATION.  165 

the  first  time  in  our  history,  supplemented  it  with  the  argu- 
ment that  a  protective  tariff  was  unfair  to  the  South.  As 
the  lines  shaped  up  they  presented  almost  a  solid  array  of 
Southern  against  a  solid  array  of  Northern  States. 

The  bill  passed  by  a  close  vote,  May  22,  1824,  and  it 
fully  engrafted  the  "  American  System "  on  our  national 
politics.  It  fixed  a  duty  on  sugar  of  3  cents  per  pound  ; 
coffee,  5  cents ;  tea,  25  cents ;  salt,  20  cents ;  pig-iron,  20 
per  cent. ;  bar-iron,  $30  per  ton  ;  glass,  30  per  cent  and  3 
cents  a  pound;  manufactures  of  cotton,  25  per  cent. ;  wool- 
ens, 30  per  cent. ;  silk,  25  per  cent. 

The  financial  and  industrial  situation  responded  promptly 
to  this  Act.  There  was  such  a  pronounced  betterment  of 
affairs  that  the  friends  of  the  Act  were  encouraged  to  try 
their  hand  at  further  legislation  in  the  line  of  protection. 

TARIFF   OF    1828. 

In  the  Twentieth  Congress  the  Democrats  (formerly  Re- 
publicans) were  in  a  majority.  They  were  divided,  how- 
ever, over  a  Protective  Tariff.  Those  of  the  Northern  States 
united  with  the  National  Republicans  (Whigs)  and  brought 
about  the  Tariff  Act  of  May  19,  1828.  It  was  largely  a 
Jackson  measure,  who  had  carried  New  York,  Pennsylvania 
and  Illinois,  on  his  protective  tariff  record. 

This  Act  of  1828  had  little  peculiar  about  it,  except  that 
it  increased  the  duty  on  woolens  and  few  raw  materials,  in- 
cluding wool.  Yet  it  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  moment- 
ous Tariff  Acts  in  our  history,  (i)  It  emphasized  the 
"  American  Idea  "  by  introducing  protection  in  every  change 
of  the  Act  of  1824.  (2)  It  was  the  turning-point  of  the 
hitherto  hostile  New  England  sentiment,  Webster  having 
changed  ground  and  entered  on  its  advocacy.  (3)  The 
South  entirely  sectionalized  its  opposition  to  it,  and  justified 


166  OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 

nullification  of  it  as  a  blow  at  the  planting  interests,  as  a  dis- 
crimination against  unpaid  labor,  and  as  unconstitutional. 

Of  the  operations  of  the  two  protective  Acts  of  1824  and 
1828,  Jackson  said  in  his  message  of  1832  : — Our  country 
presents  on  every  side  marks  of  prosperity  and  happiness, 
unequalled  perhaps  in  any  portion  of  the  world."  Webster 
said : — "  The  relief  was  profound  and  general,  reaching  all 
classes — farmers,  manufacturers,  ship-owners,  mechanics, 
day  laborers."  Clay  said  : — "  If  the  term  of  seven  years 
were  selected  to  measure  the  greatest  prosperity  of  this 
people  since  the  establishment  of  the  Constitution,  it  would 
be  exactly  that  period  of  seven  years  which  immediately 
followed  the  passage  of  the  Tariff  Act  of  1824." 

TARIFF   ACT    OF    1832. 

The  Tariff  Act  of  1828  led  to  bitter  party  and  sectional 
turmoil.  The  South  was  bitterly  opposed  to  it.  It  had  be- 
come a  kind  of  fashion  to  prepare  for  a  National  Campaign 
by  amending  the  Tariff  Act.  An  Act  passed  May,  1830, 
which  scaled  considerably  the  rates  of  duty  of  the  Act  of 
1828,  proved  unsatisfactory,  because  it  did  not  eliminate  the 
protective  features  of  that  Act.  The  nullifying  sentiment  of 
the  South  demanded  the  repudiation  of  the  protective  policy 
and  the  affirmation  of  the  free-trade  policy  by  the  govern- 
ment. It  was  a  powerful  sentiment  and  must  be  appeased, 
else  Jackson  could  not  hope  to  succeed  himself. 

Hence  the  Tariff  Act  of  1832,  which  reduced  the  rates  of 
duty  considerably  and  placed  coffee  and  tea  on  the  free  list. 
It  failed  of  its  purpose,  because  it  contained  no  repudiation 
of  the  protective  idea.  Nullification  set  in  all  the  same  and 
South  Carolina,  November  19,  1832,  declared  the  Tariff  Acts 
of  1828  and  1832  "  null  and  void." 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  167 

TARIFF   ACT   OF    1833. 

The  Twenty-second  Congress — December  3,  1832 — at  its 
second  session,  had  to  meet  the  question  of  Nullification.  It 
passed  the  "  Force  Bill,"  which  enabled  Jackson  to  collect 
the  duties  under  the  Act  of  1832,  and  then  it  changed  the 
tenor  of  the  Act  by  the  Compromise  Act  introduced  by 
Henry  Clay,  passed  March  2,  1833,  and  designed  to  show 
to  the  nullifiers  that  the  protectionists  were  not  necessarily 
their  enemies.  It  had  the  weakness  of  all  compromises,  and 
was  immediately  heralded  by  the  nullifiers  as  their  vindica- 
tion, as  a  surrender  of  the  "  American  System  "  and  as  a 
justification  of  South  Carolina.  It  did  not  enact  anything 
affirmatively,  but  took  the  tariff  of  1832  as  a  basis,  and 
scaled  its  rates  by  biennial  reductions,  till  at  the  end  of  ten 
years  a  uniform  rate  of  not  exceeding  20  per  cent,  should  pre- 
vail. This  was  ingenious  and  gradual  repeal  of  a  protective 
Act  and  a  practical  abandonment  of  the  protective  principle. 
It  was  notice  to  the  people  and  was  accepted  as  such  by  all 
foreign  countries,  that  the  United  States  had  repudiated  its 
earlier  policy  of  protection.  Henceforth  the  tariff  was  fully 
afloat  on  the  sea  of  politics. 

A  very  few  biennial  reductions  brought  the  rates  of  the 
tariff  of  1832  to  where  they  were  no  longer  protective,  and 
there  came  an  inundation  of  foreign  goods  as  in  1817-19. 
Financial  depression  followed.  Prices  fell;  production 
diminished ;  workmen  became  idle ;  farm  products  found  no 
market ;  public  revenue  fell  off  25  per  cent. ;  the  government 
had  to  borrow  at  a  ruinous  discount  in  order  to  pay  current 
expenses.  The  nation  was  in  the  midst  of  the  calamitous 
panic  of  1837 — worse  even  than  that  of  1818-19.  Aside 
from  the  moral  strain  of  the  disaster,  the  money  loss  was 
estimated  at  $  1 ,000,000,000. 


168  OUR  TARIFF   LEGISLATION. 

TARIFF    OF    1842. 

The  drift  of  popular  sentiment  was  entirely  away  from 
Van  Buren,  1837-1841.  The  Whigs  took  the  lead  and 
nominated  William  Henry  Harrison,  in  December,  1839, 
without  a  platform.  The  Democrats  renominated  Van 
Buren  in  May,  1840,  and  placed  him  on  an  elaborate  plat- 
form which  contained  the  plank: — "Justice  and  sound 
policy  forbids  the  government  to  foster  one  branch  of  indus- 
try to  the  detriment  of  another,  or  one  section  to  the  injury 
of  another."  It  also  contained  a  plank  which  read  : — "  The 
Constitution  does  not  confer  the  right  on  the  government 
to  carry  on  a  system  of  internal  improvements." 

Harrison  was  elected  President  and  the  Congress  had  a 
Whig  majority  of  six  in  the  Senate  and  twenty-five  in  the 
House.  Harrison  died  in  just  one  month  after  his  inaugura- 
tion, April  4,  1841,  and  Tyler  became  President.  It  was 
well  known  that  he  was  not  a  protectionist.  The  Whigs 
enacted  the  Tariff  Act  of  August  30,  1842,  in  obedience  to 
a  popular  demand.  The  debates  on  it  were  acrimonious 
and,  as  to  the  opponents,  involved  the  old  arguments  of 
1828  and  1832,  against  the  constitutionality  of  protection 
and  the  right  to  nullify  an  Act  of  Congress.  It  passed, 
however,  and  President  Tyle.  vetoed  it,  giving  as  a  reason 
that  it  violated  the  compromise  of  1833,  which,  as  to  pro- 
tection and  revenue,  was  to  run  till  1842,  and,  as  to  non-dis- 
crimination against  the  planting  interests,  was  practically 
without  time.  This  Act  contained  pronounced  protective 
features.  Another  Act  was  passed,  without  protective  feat- 
ures, but  with  a  clause  providing  for  the  distribution  of  any 
surplus  that  might  arise  to  the  States.  This  too  was  vetoed. 
A  third  Act  was  passed  without  the  surplus  clause.  This 
became  the  Tariff  Act  of  August  10,  1842. 


HON.  JOHN  B.   GORDON. 

Born  in  Upson  co.,  Ga.,  February  6,  1832;  educated  at  University  of 
Georgia;  read  law  and  admitted  to  bar;  entered  Confederate  army  and 
rose  to  rank  of  Major-General ;  wounded  eight  times ;  Democratic 
Candidate  for  Governor  of  Georgia,  1868 ;  Presidential  Elector  for 
State-at- Large,  1868  and  1872;  elected  to  U.  S.  Senate,  as  a  Democrat, 
1872;  re-elected  to  Senate,  1879;  elected  Governor  of  State,  1886;  re- 
elected,  1888;  re-elected  U.  S.  Senator,  1890;  member  of  Committees 
on  Civil  Service,  Coast  Defences,  Railroads,  Territories  and  Transpor- 
tation. 

(170) 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  17! 

It  found,  under  the  operation  of  the  Scaling  Act  of  1833, 
a  uniform  duty  of  20  per  cent.  This  it  changed,  by  raising 
cotton  goods  to  30  per  cent. ;  woolens  to  40  per  cent. ; 
silks  to  $2.50  per  pound  ;  bar-iron  to  $2$  per  ton  ;  pig-iron 
to  $9  per  ton  ;  sugar  to  2^  cents  per  pound.  Tea  and 
coffee  remained  free.  Clay  and  Calhoun,  who  were 
together  in  the  Compromise  of  1833,  were  antagonists  over 
this  Act  of  1842.  This  was  the  Twenty-seventh' Congress. 

The  Act  of  1842  was  so  shorn  of  its  original  features  that 
it  could  scarcely  be  called  protective,  but  such  as  it  was  it 
sufficed  to  lift  the  cloud  of  depression  and  introduce  an  era 
of  prosperity  which  had  not  been  witnessed  since  1832. 
Business  revived.  Factories  began  to  operate.  Customs 
receipts  rose  and  put  the  Government  in  possession  of  much 
needed  revenue.  Labor  sprang  into  demand.  Farm  pro- 
duce rose  in  price.  A  large  demand  arose  for  iron,  wool, 
cotton,  coal,  and  through  competition  in  manufactures,  and 
the  introduction  of  labor-saving  machinery,  the  prices  of 
manufactured  articles  were  cheaper  than  ever  before.  Roads, 
canals,  ships,  returned  a  profit.  Corporations,  States,  and 
even  the  general  Government,  rose  from  bankruptcy,  to  high 
credit.  Said  President  Polk  in  his  message  of  1846, "Labor 
in  all  its  branches  is  receiving  ample  reward.  The  progress 
of  our  country  in  resources  and  wealth  and  in  the  happy 
condition  of  our  people,  is  without  example  in  the  history 
of  nations." 

THE    TARIFF    ACT    OF     1846. 

The  National  Whig  Convention  of  1844  introduced  this 
plank  into  its  platform: — "A  tariff  for  revenue,  discriminat- 
ing with  reference  to  protection  of  domestic  labor."  The 
Democrats  reaffirmed  their  opposition  to  protection,  as  in 
the  platform  of  1840,  though  they  went  to  the  country  on 


172  OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 

the  cry  of  "  Pollc,  Dallas  and  the  Tariff  of  1 842."  The  elec- 
tion of  Polk  and  a  Democratic  House  favored  the  passage, 
in  the  Twenty-ninth  Congress,  of  a  Tariff  Act  which  should 
repeal  or  modify  that  of  1842,  for  it  was  known  that  the 
South  was  bent  on  such  repeal.  But  northern  Democrats 
refused  to  bow  to  the  situation.  Debate  took  a  sectional 
turn.  Northern  Democrats  pleaded  the  promises  of  the 
campaign,  not  to  interfere  with  the  Tariff  of  1842.  They 
were  overruled.  The  Act  of  July  30,  1846,  passed  the 
House,  which  had  a  Democratic  majority  of  61  votes.  In 
the  Senate,  which  had  a  Democratic  majority  of  five,  it  met 
with  a  tie,  and  the  tie  was  broken  by  the  casting  vote  of 
George  M.  Dallas,  Vice-President,  who  voted  in  favor  of  the 
measure.  The  Act  of  1846  reduced  the  rates  of  1842,  from 
5  to  25  per  cent,  introduced  the  theory  of  general  ad  valorem 
duties,  and  affirmed  the  doctrine  of  revenue  without  incident 
protection.  It  was  a  disappointing  Act  to  Northern  Demo- 
crats and  Whigs,  and  while  it  was  far  removed  from  the 
promises  of  the  campaign,  it  nevertheless  fitted  in  with  the 
National  platform. 

While  the  reduced  tariff  of  1846,  and  the  means  by  which 
such  reduction  was  secured,  led  to  that  revulsion  of  public 
sentiment  which  culminated  in  the  Whig  successes  of  1 848, 
the  country  happily  escaped  for  a  time  the  disasters  which 
had  followed,  quickly  and  inevitably,  former  tariff  reduc- 
tions. 

The  Mexican  war  (1846-48)  created  an  extra  demand  for 
munitions  and  supplies  estimated  at  over  $100,000,000. 

The  discovery  of  gold  in  California  (1849)  increased  the 
demand  for  labor,  agricultural  products,  mining  materials 
and  shipping;  and  sent  for  ten  years  $55,000,000  a  year  in 
gold  into  the  country. 

The  European  countries  were  in  revolution  (1848-51). 


OUR  TARIFF   LEGISLATION.  173 

Their  agricultural  and  manufacturing  industries  were  para- 
lyzed. They  could  not  export;  on  the  contrary  required 
food  supplies. 

The  Crimean  war  followed,  involving  all  Europe,  and 
creating  an  extraordinary  demand  for  American  breadstuff's. 

The  Irish  famine  occurred  and  added  to  the  demand  for 
additional  breadstuff's. 

From  1846  to  1856  these  adventitious  aids  to  the  indus- 
tries and  trade  of  the  United  States  proved  to  be  better  than 
any  protective  agency  that  might  have  been  sought  through 
forms  of  tariff"  laws.  But  unfortunately  they  were  foreign 
to  sober  enactment  and  any  economic  principle.  They  came 
and  went  without  regard  to  our  domestic  situation,  our  com- 
fort or  discomfort,  our  weal  or  woe. 

By  1854  the  true  economic  condition  began  to  assert 
itself.  Foreign  imports  reappeared  in  our  marts  in  amazing 
quantities  and  at  demoralizing  prices.  The  crises  abroad 
being  over,  our  exports  declined.  Manufactories  suspended 
operations,  being  unable  to  compete  with  the  supply  from 
abroad. 

In  1848  the  national  Democratic  platform  contained  a 
plank  denouncing  a  Tariff,  except  for  revenue,  and  hailing 
"  the  noble  impulse  given  to  the  cause  of  free-trade  by  the 
repeal  of  the  tariff  of  1842,  and  the  creation  of  the  more 
equal,  honest  and  productive  tariff  of  1846."  The  Whigs 
did  not  adopt  a  platform. 

The  National  Democratic  platform  of  1852  reaffirmed  that 
of  1848.  in  great  part;  and  that  of  the  Whigs  affirmed  "  a 
tariff  for  revenue  with  suitable  encouragement  to  American 
industry." 

The  Democratic  platform  of  1856  contained  the  plank: — 
"  That  the  time  has  come  for  the  people  of  the  United 


174  OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 

States  to  declare  themselves  in  favor  of  free  seas  and  pro- 
gressive free  trade  throughout  the  world." 

The  new  Republican  party  did  not  introduce  a  tariff  plank 
into  its  platform  of  1856. 

THE    TARIFF    ACT    OF     1857. 

In  the  Thirty-fourth  Congress,  December  5,  1855,  the 
Democrats  had  a  majority  of  9  in  the  Senate,  but  their 
magnificent  majority  in  the  previous  House  was  turned  into 
a  medley  of  straight  Democrats,  pro-slavery  Whigs,  Know- 
Nothings  and  Anti-Nebraska  men.  Owing  to  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  troubles,  the  Congress  was  not  a  dispassionate 
body.  While  it  showed  a  spirit  of  generosity  in  encourag- 
ing railroad  enterprise  and  grants  of  public  lands,  it  swung 
without  apparent  cause,  and  in  the  face  of  solemn  admoni- 
tions, clear  over  to  a  free-trade  policy,  and  under  existing 
circumstances  struck  the  country  a  cruel  blow  on  the  very 
last  day  of  its  Second  Session,  March  3,  1857.  This  is  the 
date  of  the  Tariff  Act  of  that  year.  The  only  excuse  offered 
for  its  passage  was  the  redundancy  of  revenue.  This  was 
almost  instantaneously  met  by  a  flood  of  importations,  for 
the  Act  reduced  duties  along  the  entire  line  of  imports  of 
leading  articles,  almost  to  such  rates  as  had  prevailed  before 
the  war  of  1812,  and  had  prevailed  at  no  time  since,  except 
at  the  end  of  the  sliding  scale  in  1841,  as  provided  in  the 
Compromise  Act  of  1833. 

As  had  ever  been,  the  already  tottering  industries  were 
struck  with  paralysis,  and  there  occurred  an  exhaustive  out- 
pour of  specie  to  foreign  parts.  Within  six  months  of  the 
passage  of  the  Act  the  country  was  in  the  midst  of  distress- 
ing panic.  No  branch  of  industry  escaped  the  disaster. 
Ruin  was  deep  and  universal.  Ere  it  ceased  there  were 
5,123  commercial  failures.  The  government  was  compelled 


HON.  ISHAM  Gr.  HARRIS. 

Born  in  Franklin  co.,  Tenn. ;  educated  at  Winchester  Academy ;  ad- 
mitted to  bar  at  Paris,  Tenn.,  1841 ;  elected  as  Democrat  to  State  Legis- 
lature, 1847 ;  elected  to  Congress  as  Democrat  to  represent  Ninth  Con- 
gressional District,  1849 ;  re-elected  in  1851 ;  moved  to  Memphis  and 
continued  law  practice  ;  elected  Governor  of  State  in  1857,  1859  and 
1861 ;  served  during  war  as  Aid  to  Commanding  General  of  Confederate 
Army  of  Tennessee ;  resumed  law  practice  at  Memphis,  1867 ;  elected 
to  United  States  Senate  in  1876;  re-elected,  1883  and  1889;  an  able 
debater,  earnest  statesman  of  the  strict-construction  school,  and  popular 
with  his  constituents. 

(I76) 


HON.    MICHAEL  D.   HARTER. 

Born  at  Canton,  O.,  April  6,  1846;  educated  as  a  banker  and  manu- 
facturer; an  ardent  advocate  of  economic  reforms,  and  an  able  writer 
and  speaker  upon  financial  and  industrial  subjects;  opposed  to  class 
legislation  and  to  a  debased  currency ;  elected  to  51st  Congress,  as  a 
Democrat,  for  15th  Ohio  District,  by  a  majority  of  3800  votes;  re-elected 
to  52d  Congress ;  distinguished  in  the  debates  of  the  Congress,  and  in 
shaping  legislation  ;  a  studious,  conservative,  but  courageous  man,  pre- 
ferring the  intelligent  and  sensible  in  politics  to  the  sensational  and 
temporary,  and  therefore  a  rational  rather  than  radical  factor  in  his 
party. 

(177) 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  179 

to  borrow  money  for  necessary  expenses  at  a  discount  of 
eight  to  ten  per  cent.  Up  to  1861  the  public  debt  increased 
$46,000,000,  and  during  the  same 'time  the  expenditures 
exceeded  the  receipts  by  $77,234,1 16.  President  Buchanan, 
in  his  annual  message,  said  :  "  With  unsurpassed  plenty  in 
all  the  productions  and  all  the  elements  of  natural  wealth, 
our  manufacturers  have  suspended;  our  public  v.orks  are 
retarded;  our  private  enterprises  of  different  kinds  are 
abandoned ;  thousands  of  useful  laborers  are  thrown  out  of 
employment  and  reduced  to  want.  We  have  possessed  all 
the  elements  of  material  wealth  in  rich  abundance,  and  yet, 
notwithstanding  all  these  advantages,  our  country,  in  its 
monetary  interests,  is  in  a  deplorable  condition." 

TARIFF   ACT   OF    1 86 1. 

The  Democratic  platform  of  1860  affirmed  that  of  1856. 
The  Republican  platform  favored  a  revenue  for  duties,  with 
such  adjustment  of  them  as  would  "  develop  the  industries 
of  the  whole  country." 

By  the  withdrawal  of  members  from  the  Thirty-sixth 
Congress,  to  follow  the  seceding  States,  the  Republicans 
came  into  a  strong  majority  during  the  second  session,  met 
December  3,  1860.  They  improved  their  opportunity  by 
the  passage  of  the  Tariff  Act  of  March  2,  1861.  The  Act 
was  natural  to  the  party  and  the  situation.  It  increased 
duties  all  along  the  line  of  imports,  and  reintroduced  the 
protective  principle  which  had  prevailed  with  slight  modifi- 
cation from  1789  to  1832,  and  from  1842  to  1846.  It  is 
needless  here  to  inquire  into  the  rates  of  duty  established 
by  this  tariff.  They  differed  radically  from  those  imposed 
in  the  Act  of  1857,  and  were  so  laid  as  to  best  effect  the 
object  of  revenue,  which  was  then,  or  soon  would  be,  greatly 


i8o  OUR   TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 

needed,  and  at  the  same  time  apply  and  confirm  the  doctrine 
of  protection,  as  to  labor,  manufactures  and  a  home  market. 

The  war  of  the  Rebellion  helped  to  sanction  this  Act  to 
the  popular  will  and  universal  need.  It  was  amended  by 
the  Act  of  December  24,  1861,  so  as  to  increase  the  revenues. 
It  was  still  further  amended  by  the  Act  of  June  30,  1864, 
which  increased  rates  of  duty,  and  made  them  more  protec- 
tive. There  was  another  amendment,  March  2,  1867,  which 
chiefly  related  to  manufacture  of  woolens,  an  industry 
which  had  been  greatly  stimulated  by  the  war,  and  which 
was  threatened  by  foreign  competition  in  time  of  peace. 

The  principle  of  both  revenue  and  protection  had  now 
been  strained  to  the  uttermost  by  the  exigency  of  war,  and 
the  period  had  arrived  for  a  modification  of  duties.  This 
modification  came  about  under  the  amendatory  Tariff  Act  of 
June  6,  1872,  which  reduced  duties  to  a  considerable  extent, 
but  without  much  discrimination,  and  added  largely  to  the 
free  list. 

TARIFF    ACT   OF    1874. 

Though  this  Act  did  not  attempt  general  revision,  and  was 
still  amendatory,  it  was  nevertheless  important  in  the  respect 
that  it  was  an  attempt  to  correct  the  inconsiderate  reduc- 
tions of  the  Act  of  1872.  The  panic  of  1873  had  followed 
the  reductions  of  1872,  and  though  it  was  a  world's  panic, 
and  hardly  attributable  to  the  legislation  of  any  one  nation, 
it  served  as  a  reminder  that  such  catastrophes  had  invariably 
succeeded  a  too  rapid  reduction  of  duties  and  too  wide  a 
departure  from  the  policy  of  protection.  Therefore  the  Act 
of  June  22,  1874,  stiffened  rates  on  dutiable  articles  of  a 
kind  which  was  liable  to  suffer  from  competition,  broadened 
the  protective  idea  as  to  new  industries  and  home  labor,  and 
at  the  same  time  allowed  a  liberal  free  list,  mostly  of  raw 
materials  and  unmanufactured  articles.  It  was  passed 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  18; 

during  the  first  session  of  the  Forty-third  Congress,  which 
had  a  large  Republican  majority. 

TARIFF   ACT    OF    1883. 

The  Republican  platform  of  1880  contained  a  distinctive 
protective  plank  ;  the  Democratic  platform  declared  for  "  a 
tariff  for  revenue  only."  The  Forty-seventh  Congress  had 
a  Republican  working  majority  in  the  House,  but  a  tie  in 
the  Senate.  Owing  to  the  death  of  Garfield  and  the  little 
work  done  by  the  previous  Congress,  it  stood  at  the  apex 
of  an  immense  amount  of  legislation.  At  the  first  session, 
a  bill  was  passed,  May  15,  1882,  creating  a  Tariff  Commis- 
sion. This  Commission  sat  at  various  places  during  1882, 
and  its  report  became  the  basis  of  the  Tariff  Act  of  the 
succeeding  session.  It  was  a  non-partisan  Commission,  and 
its  existence  was  due  to  a  sentiment  pervading  all  parties 
that  some  highly  deliberate  step  was  necessary  to  correct 
the  incongruities  of  existing  Tariff  Acts,  and  re-adapt  rates 
of  duty  to  our  newer  and  more  widely  diversified  industries. 

The  Commission  worked  laboriously,  and  with  deference 
to  the  spirit  of  reform  which  had  called  it  into  existence, 
and,  it  may  be  said,  with  due  regard  to  the  sentiment  of  the 
hour  against  prohibitive,  or  even  protective,  rates  as  to  es- 
tablished industries.  Its  conclusions  pointed  to  measures 
which  reduced  duties  along  the  entire  line  of  imports,  in 
general  at  least  25  per  cent,  in  some  cases  more,  in  others 
less.  Though  the  Congress  did  not  adopt  all  of  the  conclu- 
sions of  the  Commission,  its  report,  as  already  stated, 
formed  the  groundwork  of  the  Act  of  1883. 

The  Act  was  passed  March  3,  1883,  after  protracted  dis- 
cussion. While  it  strove  to  equalize  rates  and  abolish  in- 
congruities, it  did  not  prove  to  be  a  success.  Interests  were 
so  conflicting  that  it  was  impossible  to  avoid  crudities  and 


T»a  OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 

hardships.  The  demands  of  manufacturers  for  lighter 
duties  on,  or  for  free,  raw  materials  worked  to  the  injury  of 
the  producing  classes,  and  vice  versa.  The  Act  was  in  the 
nature  of  a  compromise  all  round,  but  it  showed  that  the 
entire  country  had  «ome  to  regard  this  class  of  legislation 
as  of  the  highest  moment,  and  vital  to  its  interests. 

In  the  Forty-eighth  Congress  (1884),  which,  after  the 
political  "tidal  wave"  of  1882,  contained  a  large  Demo- 
cratic majority  in  the  House,  a  determined  effort  was  made 
to  pass  the  Morrison  Tariff  Bill,  which  provided  for  a  hori- 
zontal reduction  of  duties  to  the  extent  of  twenty  per  cent. 
The  Democrats  divided  on  the  merits  of  the  bill  and  it  was 
disposed  of  by  striking  out  its  enacting  clause. 

TARIFF   ACT    OF    1 890. 

The  Republican  National  platform  of  1884  distinctly 
enunciated  the  doctrine  of  protection.  The  Democratic 
platform  contained  a  pledge  of  "  tariff  revision."  There 
was  no  further  excitement  over  the  tariff  till  President 
Cleveland  delivered  his  message  to  Congress  in  December, 
1 887.  It  was  devoted  almost  wholly  to  tariff  systems  and 
laws,  excepted  to  existing  duties  on  wool  and  necessaries, 
and  directly  opposed  the  protective  idea.  It  was  an  earnest 
paper  and  had  all  the  weight  of  a  deliberate  and  special  an- 
nouncement to  the  American  people.  The  free-trade  wing 
of  the  party  hailed  it  as  a  recognition  of  their  views.  The 
"  revenue  reform "  element,  headed  by  Mr.  Randall,  re- 
garded it  as  unwise,  as  containing  the  seeds  of  political  dis- 
aster, and  as  crushing  out  the  minority  element  in  the  party. 
The  Republicans  treated  it  as  a  challenge  to  contest  to  the 
bitter  end  the  issue  of  Free-Trade  vs.  Protection,  though 
they  regarded  it  as  unnecessarily  bitter  in  expression,  es- 
pecially in  such  sentences  as,  "  But  our  present  tariff  laws, 


HON.  ANTHONY  HIGGINS. 

Born  in  New  Castle  co.,  Del.,  October  1,  1840;  graduated  at  Yale,  in 
1861 ;  studied  law  at  Harvard  Law  School  and  admitted  to  bar,  1864; 
appointed  Deputy  Attorney-General,  1864;  United  States  Attorney  for 
Delaware,  1869-76;  Chairman  of  Republican  State  Committee,  1868 ; 
candidate  for  United  States  Senate,  1881,  and  received  vote  of  Repub- 
lican members  of  Legislature ;  Republican  candidate  for  Congress, 
1884;  elected  to  United  States  Senate,  as  Republican,  in  1889;  term 
expires  March  3,  1895;  first  Republican  Senator  from  State  in  great 
number  of  years;  Chairman  of  Committee  on  Manufactures,  and  mem- 
ber of  Committees  on  Coa>t  Defences,  District  of  Columbia,  Interstate 
Commerce,  and  Privileges  and  Elections. 

('83) 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  185 

the  vicious,  inequitable  and  illogical  source  of  unnecessary 
taxation,  ought  to  be  at  once  revised  and  amended."  The 
English  press  was  profuse  in  its  praise,  and  as  the  Spectator 
said,  "  His  terse  and  telling  message  has  struck  a  blow  at 
American  protection  such  as  could  never  have  been  struck 
by  any  free-trade  league." 

What  became  known  as  the  "  Mills'  Tariff  Bill,"  suppos- 
ably  framed  to  meet  the  President's  views,  was  reported  to 
the  House  of  Representatives  March  I,  1888.  It  made  sig- 
nificant reductions  in  existing  tariff  rates,  and  at  once 
became  the  absorbing  measure  of  the  first  session  of  the 
Fiftieth  Congress.  It  was  evident  that  upon  it,  and  the 
repeal  of  internal  taxation,  party  lines  would  be  closely 
drawn,  except  as  to  the  Democratic  contingent  led  by  Mr. 
Randall.  The  bill  proved  to  have  been  hastily  and  crudely 
drawn,  and  the  debates  upon  it  took  a  wide  range  and  were 
exhaustive  of  the  merits  of  free-trade  and  protection.  It 
passed  the  House  July  21,  1 888,  but  was  met  by  a  counter 
bill  in  the  Senate,  which  embodied  the  Republican  doctrine 
of  protection.  The  two  parties  were  now  hopelessly  wide 
apart,  the  time  of  the  session  was  exhausted,  and  both 
appealed  to  the  country  on  the  record  made  in  the  Con- 
gress. 

The  Republican  national  platform  of  1888  pladged  un- 
compromising favor  for  the  American  system  of  protection. 
The  Democratic  platform  reaffirmed  that  of  1884,  endorsed 
the  views  of  President  Cleveland  in  his  last  annual  message, 
and  also  the  efforts  of  the  Democratic  Congress  to  secure  a 
reduction  of  excessive  taxation. 

The  issue  of  the  campaign  of  1888  is  well  known.  With 
Harrison  was  elected  a  Republican  Congress.  The  issue 
had  been  so  wholly  that  of  Free-trade  vs.  Protection  that 
the  way  of  the  Republican  majority  was  plain.  The  Com- 


186  OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 

niittee  of  Ways  and  Means,  whose  chairman  was  William 
McKinley,  invited  all  the  interests  concerned  in  tariff  revis- 
ion to  a  hearing.  A  bill  was  finally  framed,  which  became 
known  as  the  "  McKinley  Bill."  The  effort  was  to  embody 
in  the  bill  the  experience  of  all  former  tariff  legislation,  and 
what  was  best  of  all  former  Acts ;  to  impose  rates  of  a  dis- 
tinctively protective  character,  and  in  the  interest  of  Ameri- 
can labor,  on  manufactures  which  could  exist  here,  but 
whose  existence  was  threatened  by  foreign  competition ;  to 
impose  similar  rates  on  goods,  such  as  tin  plates,  which  we 
did  not,  but  could  manufacture,  and  ought  to ;  to  largely 
reduce  the  duty  on  necessaries,  or  exempt  them  altogether, 
as  by  making  sugar  free ;  to  increase  the  free  list  by  placing 
all  raw  materials  on  it  whose  importation  did  not  compete 
with  the  home  growth  of  the  same ;  to  introduce  the  policy 
of  reciprocity  by  which  we  could  gain  something  by  en- 
larged trade  in  return  for  the  loss  of  duties  on  sugars  and 
such  articles. 

A  great  deal  of  thought  was  given  to  the  bill,  and  it  was 
fully  debated  in  Congress.  Perhaps  no  Tariff  Act  was  ever 
passed,  in  whose  preparation  so  many  interests  had  been  so 
fully  consulted,  and  with  whose  provisions  the  varied  inter- 
ests were  so  fully  satisfied.  Certainly  none  ever  passed  that 
had  to  undergo  more  minute  criticism,  whose  merits  were 
more  elaborately  discussed,  and  respecting  which  so  many 
prophecies,  good  and  bad,  were  indulged.  Its  passage  oc- 
cupied the  entire  time  of  the  first  session  of  the  Fifty-first 
Congress,  and  it  was  not  until  October  I,  1890,  that  it  be- 
came a  law.  No  other  enactment  of  the  Congress  approached 
it  in  importance. 

So  prominent  was  this  legislation,  and  such  the  character 
of  prophecies  respecting  it,  that  hardly  anything  else  was 
heard  in  the  Congressional  campaign  of  1890.  As  the  im- 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  187 

aginations  of  its  opponents  had  free  play,  and  as  nothing 
could  be  affirmed  of  its  practical  workings  by  its  friends 
before  it  began  to  work,  there  was  another  political  "  tidal 
wave"  like  that  of  1882,  and  the  Democrats  entered  the 
Fifty-second  Congress  with  an  overwhelming  majority. 

They  were  under  the  same  obligations  to  repeal  the 
obnoxious  McKinley  Act,  and  enact  a  measure  which 
embraced  their  views,  as  the  Republicans  were  in  the  Fifty- 
first  Congress.  They  were  in  far  better  condition  to  do  this, 
as  to  the  House,  for  their  majority  was  overwhelming. 
They,  however,  did  not  attempt  repeal  or  general  revision, 
but  introduced  a  series  of  Acts  relating  to  special  articles, 
such  as  the  lowering  of  duties  on  manufactures  of  wool  and 
<5n  tin-plates,  and  the  placing  of  wool,  binding  twine,  etc.,  on 
the  free  list.  The  discussion  of  these  provisions  was  ani- 
mated, and  in  general  they  passed  the  House.  They  served 
to  keep  the  sentiment  of  the  respective  parties  prominent, 
and  to  shape  the  issues  for  a  retrial  in  the  campaign  of  1892, 
by  which  time  the  practical  workings  of  the  Act  of  1890  will 
have  tested  many  theories,  and  will  compel  orators  to  hew 
closely  to  lines  of  facts  and  figures  in  order  to  carry  convic- 
tion. 

The  McKinley  Act  increased  duties  on  about  115  articles, 
embracing  farm  products,  manufactures  not  sufficiently  pro- 
tected, manufactures  to  be  established,  luxuries,  such  as 
wines.  It  decreased  duties  on  about  190  articles,  embracing 
\  manufactures  established,  or  which  could  not  suffer  from 
foreign  competition.  It  left  the  duties  unchanged  on  249 
articles.  It  enlarged  the  free  list  till  it  embraces  55.75  per 
cent,  of  all  imports,  or  22.48  more  than  previous  tariffs. 
The  placing  of  sugar  on  the  free  list  was  a  loss  of  revenue 
equal  to  $54,000,000  a  year. 


1 88  OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 

DRIFT    OF   TARIFF    LEGISLATION     ABROAD. 

The  nations  which  occupy  the  Continent  of  Europe  have, 
without  exception,  introduced  into  their  commercial  and 
industrial  systems,  within  a  very  few  years,  the  principle  of 
protection.  This  has  been  marked  by  economists  of  every 
school.  Great  Britain  alone  has  remained  firm  to  her  doc- 
trine of  free-trade.  On  May  23,  1892,  Lord  Salisbury,  the 
English  Premier,  delivered  a  speech  at  Hastings,  in  which 
he  discussed  the  attitude  of  Great  Britain  as  to  her  external 
trade.  The  speech,  coming  from  so  high  an  authority,  cre- 
ated great  excitement  among  English  Conservatives,  drew  a 
wide  range  of  comment  from  the  newspapers  of  the  world, 
and  seemed  to  presage  a  new  departure  in  the  applied  eco- 
nomics of  the  realm. 

Its  points,  bearing  on  external  trade,  were : — 

"  After  all,  this  little  island  lives  as  a  trading  island.  We 
could  not  produce  in  foodstuffs  enough  to  sustain  the  popu- 
lation that  lives  in  this  island,  and  it  is  only  by  the  great 
industries  which  exist  here,  and  which  find  markets  in  for- 
eign countries,  that  we  are  able  to  maintain  the  vast  popula- 
tion by  which  this  island  is  inhabited. 

"  But  a  danger  is  growing  up.  Forty  or  fifty  years  ago 
everybody  believed  that  free-trade  had  conquered  the  world, 
and  they  prophesied  that  every  nation  w®uld  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  England  and  give  itself  up  to  absolute  free-trade. 

"  The  results  are  not  exactly  what  they  prophesied,  but 
the  more  adverse  the  results  were,  the  more  the  devoted 
prophets  of  free-trade  declared  that  all  would  come  aright  at 
last. 

"  The  worse  the  tariffs  of  foreign  countries  became  the 
more  confident  were  the  prophecies  of  an  early  victory,  but 
we  see  now,  after  many  years  experience  that  explain  it, 


HON.  JAMES  K.  JONES. 

Born  in  Marshall  co.,  Miss.,  Sept.  29,  1839;  educated  in  classics  and 
law ;  served  in  Confederate  army ;  a  planter  till  1873 ;  began  law  prac- 
tice at  Washington,  Arkansas,  and  elected  to  State  Senate  in  1873 ;  re- 
elected  in  1877,  and  became  President  of  the  body  ;  elected,  as  Democrat, 
to  47th,  48th  and  49th  Congresses ;  elected  to  U.  S.  Senate  in  1884;  re- 
elected  in  1890 ;  term  expires  March  3,  1897 ;  member  of  Committees 
on  Agriculture  and  Forestry,  Indian  Affairs,  Interstate  Commerce, 
Irrigation  and  Territories. 

(100) 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  191 

how  many  foreign  nations  are  raising,  one  after  another,  a 
wall — a  brazen  wall  of  protection — around  their  shores 
which  excludes  us  from  their  markets,  and,  so  far  as  they 
are  concerned,  do  their  best  to  kill  our  trade,  and  this  state 
of  things  does  not  get  better.  On  the  contrary,  it  con- 
stantly seems  to  get  worse. 

"  Now,  of  course,  if  I  utter  a  word  with  reference  tp  free- 
trade,  I  shall  be  accused  of  being  a  protectionist,  of  a  desire 
to  overthrow  free-trade,  and  all  tfie  other  crimes  which  an 
ingenious  imagination  can  attach  to  a  commercial  hetero- 
doxy. 

"  But,  nevertheless,  I  ask  you  to  set  yourselves  free  from 
all  that  merely  vituperative  doctrine  and  to  consider  whether 
the  true  doctrine  of  free-trade  carries  you  as  far  as  some  of 
these  gentlemen  would  wish  you  to  go. 

"  Every  true  religion  has  its  counterpart  in  inventions  and 
legends  and  traditions,  which  grow  upon  that  religion.  The 
Old  Testament  had  its  Canonical  books  and  had  also  its 
Talmud  and  its  Mishna,  the  inventions  of  rabbinical  com- 
mentators. 

"  There  are  a  Mishna  and  a  Talmud  constantly  growing 
up.  One  of  the  difficulties  we  have  to  contend  with  is  the 
strange  and  unreasonable  doctrine  which  these  rabbis  have 
imposed  upon  us. 

"  If  we  look  abroad  into  the  world  we  will  see  it.  In  the 
office  which  I  have  the  honor  to  hold  I  am  obliged  to  see  a 
great  deal  of  it. 

"  We  live  in  an  age  of  a  war  of  tariffs.  Every  nation  is 
trying  how  it  can,  by  agreement  with  its  neighbor,  get  the 
greatest  possible  protection  for  its  own  industries,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  greatest  possible  access  to  the  markets  of  its 
neighbors. 

"This  kind  of  negotia,.':n  is  continually  going  on.  It 
9 


I92  OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 

has  been  going  on  for  the  last  year  and  a  half  with  great 
activity. 

"  I  want  to  point  out  to  you  that  what  I  observe  is  that 
while  A  is  very  anxious  to  get  a  favor  of  B,  and  B  is  anx- 
ious to  get  a  favor  of  C,  nobody  cares  two  straws  about  get- 
ting the  commercial  favor  of  Great  Britain. 

"  What  is  the  reason  of  that  ?  It  is  that  in  this  great 
battle  Great  Britain  has  deliberately  stripped  herself  of  the 
armor  and  the  weapons  by  which  the  battle  has  to  be 
fought. 

"  You  cannot  do  business  in  this  world  of  eril  and  suffer- 
ing on  those  terms.  If  you  go  to.  market,  you  must  bring 
money  with  you.  If  you  fight,  you  must  fight  with  the 
weapons  with  which  those  you  have  to  contend  against  are 
fighting. 

"  The  weapon  with  which  they  all  fight  is  admission  to 
their  own  markets,  that  is  to  say,  A  says  to  B  :  '  If  you  will 
make  your  duties  such  that  I  can  sell  in  your  market  I  will 
make  my  duties  such  that  you  can  sell  in  my  market.' 

"  But  we  begin  by  saying  that  we  will  levy  no  duties  on 
anybody,  and  we  declare  that  it  would  be  contrary  and  dis- 
loyal to  the  glorious  and  sacred  doctrine  of  free-trade  to 
levy  any  duty  on  anybody,  for  the  sake  of  what  we  can  get 
by  it. 

"  It  may  be  noble,  but  it  is  not  business. 

"  On  those  terms  you  will  get  nothing,  and  I  am  sorry  to 
have  to  tell  you  that  you  are  practically  getting  nothing. 

"  The  opinion  of  this  country,  as  stated  by  its  authorized 
exponents,  has  been  opposed  by  what  is  called  a  retaliatory 
policy. 

"  We,  as  the  government  of  the  country,  have  laid  it 
down  for  ourselves  as  a  strict  rule  from  which  there  is  no 
departure,  and  we  are  bound  not  to  alter  the  traditional 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  193 

policy  of  the  country  unless  we  are  convinced  that  a  large 
majority  of  the  country  is  with  us,  because  in  these  foreign 
affairs  consistency  of  policy  is  beyond  all  things  unnecessary. 

"  But,  though  that  is  the  case,  still  if  I  may  aspire  to  fill 
the  office  of  a  councillor  to  the  public  mind,  I  should  ask 
you  to  form  your  own  opinions  without  a  reference  to  tradi- 
tions or  denunciations,  not  to  care  two  straws  whether  you 
are  orthodox  or  not,  but  to  form  your  opinions  according  to 
the  dictates  of  common  sense — I  would  impress  upon  you 
that  if  you  intend  in  this  conflict  of  commercial  treaties  to 
hold  your  own  you  must  be  prepared,  if  need  be,  to  inflict 
upon  the  nations  which  injure  you  the  penalty  which  is  in 
your  hands,  that  of  refusing  them  access  to  your  markets. 

"  The  power  we  have  most  reason  to  complain  of  is  the 
United  States,  and  what  we  want  the  United  States  to  fur- 
nish us  with  mostly  are  articles  of  food  essential  to  the  feed- 
ing of  the  people  and  raw  materials  necessary  to  our  manu- 
facturers, and  we  cannot  exclude  one  or  the  other  without 
serious  injury  to  ourselves. 

"  Now,  I  am  not  in  the  least  prepared,  for  the  sake  of 
wounding  other  nations,  to  inflict  any  dangerous  or  serious 
wound  upon  ourselves. 

"  We  must  confine  ourselves,  at  least  for  the  present,  to 
those  subjects  on  which  we  should  not  suffer  very  much, 
whether  the  importation  continued  or  diminished. 

"  But  what  I  complain  about  of  the  rabbis  of  whom  I  have 
just  spoken  is,  that  they  confuse  this  vital  point.  They  say 
that  everything  must  be  given  to  the  consumer.  Well,  if  the 
consumer  is  the  man  who  maintains  the  industries  of  the 
country  or  is  the  people  at  large,  I  agree  with  the  rabbis. 

"  You  cannot  raise  the  price  of  food  or  of  raw  material,  but 
there  is  an  enormous  mass  of  other  articles  of  importation 
from  other  countries  besides  the  United  States  which  are 


194  OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 

mere  matters  of  luxurious  consumption,  and  if  it  is  a  ques- 
tion of  wine  or  silk  or  spirits  or  gloves  or  lace,  I  should  not 
in  the  least  shrink  from  diminishing  the  consumption  and 
interfering  with  the  comfort  of  the  excellent  people  who  con- 
sume these  articles  of  luxury,  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining 
our  rights  in  this  commercial  war,  and  of  insisting  on  our 
right  of  access  to  the  markets  of  our  neighbors. 

"  This  is  very  heterodox  doctrine,  I  know,  and  I  should 
be  excommunicated  for  maintaining  it. 

"  But,  as  one's  whole  duty  is  to  say  what  he  thinks  to  the 
people  of  this  country,  I  am  bound  to  say  that  our  rabbis 
have  carried  the  matter  too  far. 

"  We  must  distinguish  between  consumer  and  consumer, 
and  while  jealously  preserving  the  rights  of  a  consumer  who 
is  co-extensive  with  a  whole  industry,  or  with  the  whole 
people  ©f  the  country,  we  may  fairly  use  our  power  over  an 
importation  which  merely  ministers  to  luxury  in  order  to 
maintain  our  own  in  this  great  commercial  battle." 

AMERICAN   IRON  AND   TIN-PLATE   FIGURES. 

MANUFACTURES    OF    IRON. 

Imports  and  exports  for  first  eight  months  of  the  three 
latest  fiscal  years : 

Year.  Imports.  Exports. 

1889-90 $26,966,085  $'6,735,594 

1890-91 29,820,502  18,823,384 

1891-92 16,329,207  20,463,764 

For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  country  the  exports 
of  iron  manufactures  exceeded  the  imports  in  1891-92,  and 
America  practically  cut  loose  from  foreign  invention  in  iron 
and  steel. 


HON.  DAVID  B.  HILL. 

Born  in  Chemung  co.,  N.  Y.,  August  29, 1843 ;  graduated  at  Havanna 
Academy ;  admitted  to  Elmira  bar,  November,  1864,  and  appointed 
City  Attorney;  member  of  State  Assembly,  1871-72;  President  of 
Democratic  State  Conventions,  1877,  1881 ;  elected  Mayor  of  Elmira, 
1882 ;  President  of  New  York  Bar  Association,  1886-87  ;  elected  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor  of  New  York,  November,  1882;  succeeded  Grover 
Cleveland  as  Governor,  January,  1885 ;  elected  Governor,  November, 
1885,  on  Democratic  ticket;  re-elected  Governor,  1888;  elected  to 
United  States  Senate,  as  Democrat,  1891 ;  a  distinguished  party  organ- 
izer and  leader ;  name  much  discussed  in  connection  with  the  Presidency. 

(196) 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  197 

TIN-PLATE   FIGURES. 

From  quarterly  returns  made  to  Treasury  Department : 

Duty  on  tin-plate  prior  to  July  i,  1891 I  cent  per  Ib. 

Duty  after  July  I,  1891,  McKinley  Act 2.2  cents  per  Ib. 

Manufactories  in  United  States  July  I,  1891 None. 

Manufactories  reported  to  Treasury  Department   as   having 

started  during  quarter  ending  September  3,  1891 5 

Yearly  capacity  equal  to 27,000,0x5*  Ibs. 

Manufactories  reported  to  Treasury  Department  for  quarter 

ending  December  31,  1891 II 

Yearly  capacity  equal  to 60,000,000  Ibs. 

Manufactories  reported  to  Treasury  Department  for  quarter 

ending  March  31,  1892 19 

Yearly  capacity  equal  to 300,000,000  Ibs. 

Actual  production  for  above  quarter 3,000,000  Ibs. 

Amount  of  capital  invested  March  31,  1892 #3,000,000 

Tin-plate  imported,  1890 680,060,925  Ibs. 

Value  of  same $20,928,150 

Cost  of  a  box  of  tin-plate  (108  Ibs.)  in  Liverpool,  January  i, 

1891   54.23 

Additional  duty  on  same  after  July  I,  1891 1.29 

Cost  of  box  of  tin-plate  in  Liverpool  (108  Ibs.)  April  I,  1892.  3.02 
Importation  of  tin-plate  for  8  months  ending  Feb.  28,  1891.  .525,904,757  Ibs. 
Importation  of  tin-plate  for  8  months  ending  Feb.  29,  1892.  .177,114,874  Ibs. 


HISTORIC   REVIEW  OF  THE  SILVER   QUES- 
TION. 

THE  use  of  metal  as  a  medium  of  exchange  and  a  measure 
of  value  has  an  old  and  interesting  history.  The  province 
of  money  has  ever  been  a  conspicuous  theme  in  political 
economy.  Lately  in  our  country  all  discussion  of  money 
has  been  given  a  new  turn,  and  been  rendered  momentous 
and  exciting  by  the  fact  that  political  parties  have  chosen  to 
divide  upon  questions  of  coinage,  quantities,  kinds  and  values 
of  our  metallic  circulating  medium,  and  seek  to  make  them 
issues  in  their  campaigns. 

This  has  given  to  what  is  popularly  known  as  "  The  Sil- 
ver Question,"  or  "  The  Free  Coinage  Question,"  a  promi- 
nence it  never  had  before.  It  is  within  the  bounds  of  truth 
to  say  that  the  "Silver  Question"  quite  overshadows  the 
"  Tariff  Question  "  in  the  Fifty-second  Congress,  and  bids 
fair  to  divide  honors  with  that  question  for  a  considerable 
time.  Next  to,  and  perhaps  equal  with,  the  doctrines  of 
Free-Trade  and  Protection,  it  concerns  the  business  inter- 
ests, the  life  and  work,  the  labor  and  property,  of  every  man 
in  the  country,  from  the  humblest  toiler  to  the  largest  capi- 
talist. No  man  who  works  for  daily  bread,  no  man  who 
has  a  dollar  saved,  no  man  who  has  a  house  or  farm,  no 
man  who  has  his  capital  in  factories,  stocks,  mortgages,  or 
other  securities,  ought  to  be  ignorant  of  a  question  which 
so  intimately  concerns  his  welfare.  It  is,  perhaps,  a  matter 
of  regret  that  a  question  so  purely  economic  should  fall  into 
political  channels,  but  such  is  the  fate  of  all  these  great 
questions  under  our  free  system  of  government,  and  our 
198 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  199 

people  are  seemingly  better  satisfied  with  results  obtained  in 
their  own  popular  way,  than  through  the  media  of  learned 
theories  and  abstruse  teachings.  In  as  much  they  prefer  to 
use  their  own  judgments  and  to  abide  by  their  own  verdicts, 
the  obligation  is  imposed  on  them  of  informing  themselves 
as  far  as  possible  respecting  the  merits  of  this  question,  and 
all  questions  that  similarly  affect  them. 

WHAT    IS   MONEY? 

Says  Laveleye :  "  Money  is  the  substance  or  substances 
which  custom  or  the  law  causes  to  be  employed  as  the 
means  of  payment,  the  instrument  of  exchange  and  the  com- 
mon measure  of  values." 

The  difficulty  of  bartering  wares  against  wares  brought 
into  use  an  intermediate  means  of  effecting  the  exchange. 
This  means  was  money,  which  became  an  agent  of  circula- 
tion and  a  vehicje  of  exchange — the  cart  for  transferring 
property  in  an  object  from  one  person  to  another,  just  as  the 
actual  cart  transferred  the  object  itself. 

Again,  money  came  to  be  the  universal  equivalent. 
When  one  sells  a  bushel  of  wheat  for  a  dollar,  the  dollar  is 
the  equivalent  of  the  wheat.  One  can,  in  turn,  make  the 
dollar  the  equivalent  of  other  goods,  which  he  needs  more 
than  the  wheat  or  the  dollar.  Says  Adam  Smith :  "A  piece 
of  gold  may  be  considered  as  an  agreement  for  a  certain 
quantity  of  goods  payable  by  the  tradesmen  of  the  neigh- 
borhood." 

Still  further,  money  is  a  common  measure  or  standard  of 
values.  Some  one  has  called  it  "  The  yardstick  of  com- 
merce." Length,  weight,  value,  need  to  be  compared  with 
something,  in  order  to  subdivide  them  and  turn  their  parts 
to  use.  Hence,  a  foot  is  made  a  standard  of  long  measure, 
and  when  we  say  a  stick  is  twelve  feet  long,  we  know  ex- 


200  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

actly  how  long  it  is,  and  all  men  will  know.  This  is  mucli 
more  definite  and  satisfactory  than  to  say,  the  stick  is  as  long 
as  twenty  hand-breadths,  for  some  hands  are  larger  than 
others,  and  the  stick  would  be  longer  or  shorter,  according 
to  each  measurer.  So,  if  we  say  a  barrel  of  flour  weighs  as 
much  as  two  pigs,  we  get  but  a  vague  and  varying  idea  of 
its-  weight,  for  pigs  differ  in  size  and  weight.  But  when  we 
set  up  the  pound  as  a  standard  of  weight,  and  say  that  a 
barrel  of  flour  weighs  196  pounds,  all  men  will  have  a  com- 
mon idea  of  its  weight.  It  is  the  same  with  value.  The 
value  of  a  horse  may  be  equal  to  five  cows,  but  as  cows  have 
one  price  to-day  and  another  to-morrow,  you  have  selected 
a  very  uncertain  means  of  finding  the  value  of  a  horse.  By 
the  use  of  money  as  a  common  valuer,  as  in  the  foot  or  the 
pound,  you  get  a  definite  idea  of  the  value  of  a  horse. 
When  you  say  it  is  worth  one  hundred  dollars,  or  a  hundred 
times  one  dollar — the  dollar  being  the  standard  or  measurer 
of  value — all  men  fall  to  the  idea,  know  what  a  horse  is 
worth. 

The  foot  standard  is  exactly  ascertained  and  rigidly  fixed. 
The  pound  standard  is  also  accurately  ascertained  and  rig- 
idly fixed.  In  attempting  to  fix  a  standard  for  measuring 
values,  great  difficulty  is  encountered,  for,  unfortunately,  the 
substances  used  for  measuring  the  values  of  articles  of  com- 
merce are  themselves  merchandise,  and  subject  to  variation 
in  value  like  all  goods.  The  best  that  can  be  done,  there- 
fore, as  to  values,  is  to  select  as  true  and  invariable  a  standard 
of  measurement  as  possible,  to  watch  it  closely,  and  to  cor- 
rect from  time  to  time  the  expansions  and  contractions  oc- 
casioned by  commercial  heat  and  cold. 

KINDS   OF   MONEY. 

The  Siberians  used  furs  as  money.     The  Spartans  used 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  20I 

iron.  The  African  uses  cloth,  salt  and  cowrie-shells.  Cat- 
tle held  the  largest  place  as  money  among  the  ancients  and 
many  of  our  financial  and  commercial  words  are  derived 
from  old  words  indicating  the  early  prominence  of  the  flock 
and  herd.  The  arms  of  Diomede  were  valued  at  nine  oxen  ; 
those  of  Glaucus  at  one  hundred  oxen.  The  Franks  levied 
a  tribute  of  oxen  on  the  conquered  Saxons.  Our  word 
"  pecuniary  "  is  the  Latin  pecus,  "  cattle."  Our  "  fee  "  is  the 
Saxon  feoh,  cattle. 

Metal  money  was  first  employed  as  representing  value  in 
cattle.  The  ox  or  sheep  became  its  emblem  and  was 
stamped  on  the  metal. 

As  civilization  progressed  and  exchanges  became  more 
frequent,  gold  and  silver  took  the  place  of  all  cruder  metals 
and  devices,  as  money. 

This  was  because  time  and  experience  had  proved  their 
superiority  as  measurers  of  value  and  media  of  exchange. 

They  do  not  deteriorate  by  keeping. 

Their  production  is  limited  by  scarcity  of  their  ores.  This 
gives  great  value  in  proportion  to  weight,  and  facilitates 
handling,  transport  and  hoarding. 

The  annual  losses  of  the  precious  metals  by  wear  and  tear 
and  by  absorption  in  the  arts  have  so  nearly  equalled  the 
annual  production,  as  that  the  excess  of  production  has  sel- 
dom exceeded  the  ratio  of  increase  in  population  and  the 
growing  demand  for  money.  Thus  the  demand  and  supply 
being  nearly  equal,  the  value  of  gold  and  silver  remains  very 
stable,  as  compared  with  other  metals,  or  other  measures  of 
value. 

The  accumulated  stock  of  the  precious  metals,  estimated 
in  money  and  ornaments  at  $IO,OCXD,OOO,OOO  in  the  world, 
tends  to  lessen  variations  in  value  that  might  be  occasioned 
by  diminution  or  failure  of  the  annual  supply. 


202  THE   SILVER  QUESTION. 

All  civilized  nations  seek  and  accept  gold  and  silver  as  a 
means  of  facilitating  exchange. 

Gold  and  silver  are  easily  divisible  into  parts  and  propor- 
tions of  given  weights  and  values. 

They  receive  with  ease  and  permanently  the  impression 
which  distinguishes  their  weight,  size,  design  and  value. 

They  are  readily  distinguishable  from  other  metals ;  gold 
by  its  weight,  silver  by  its  sound. 

THE   VALUE    OF    MONEY. 

The  purchasing  power  of  money  ascertains  its  value.  The 
,  pure  silver  which  would  have  bought  eight  bushels  of  wheat 
during  the  Middle  Ages,  would  bring  only  two  bushels, 
after  the  discovery  of  America.  Therefore,  it  was  said  of 
silver,  that  it  had  declined  to  one-fourth  of  its  previous 
value. 

Supply  of  an  article  usually  affects  its  value,  but  a  supply 
of  money  involves  the  quantity  in  existence  and  the  rapidity 
of  its  circulation.  A  dollar  that  makes  three  exchanges  a 
day  is  worth  three  dollars  that  make  one  exchange  a  day. 

If  the  demand  for  money  is  less  than  the  supply,  its  value 
decreases ;  only  we  don't  say  so,  but  that  prices  rise.  If  the 
demand  for  money  is  greater  than  the  supply,  its  value  in- 
creases ;  but  we  say,  that  prices  fall. 

Alterations  in  the  value  of  money  lead  to  confusion  in 
commercial,  legal  and  economic  relations.  A  decrease  in 
the  amount  or  value  of  money  seriously  affects  the  debtor 
classes.  An  increase  in  the  amount  or  value  of  money  in- 
jures the  creditor  classes. 

MONEY   SYSTEMS. 

The  gold  and  silver  that  enter  into  money  are  not  pure, 
but  mixed  with  alloy,  usually  copper,  to  save  the  coins  from 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  203 

wearing.  The  quantity  of  alloy  generally  introduced  is 
about  one-tenth,  that  is,  one  part  alloy  to  nine  parts  of  pure 
metal. 

In  England,  the  unit  of  money,  gold  or  silver,  of  which 
the  other  coins  are  multiples,  is  the  sovereign  or  pound  ;  in 
France,  the  franc ;  in  Germany,  the  mark ;  in  Holland,  the 
florin ;  in  the  United  States,  the  dollar.  The  larger  coins 
are  generally  made  a  legal  tender  for  debts,  without  limit. 
Smaller  fractional  or  subsidiary  coins  are  generally  made  a 
legal  tender  for  debts,  with  a  limit  as  to  amount.  Still  smaller 
coins,  cents,  nickels,  and  such  as  rank  as  "  token  money," 
are  made  legal  tender  for  debts  of  a  still  smaller  amount. 

Formerly,  monarchs,  cities,  bishops  and  nobles  claimed 
the  right  to  coin  money,  and  they  frequently  abused  their 
right  by  diminishing  the  value  of  the  currency,  either  by  re- 
ducing the  quantity  of  pure  metal  in  the  coins,  or  by  declar- 
ing them  to  have  a  legal  value  far  beyond  their  intrinsic 
value.  Solon  decreed  that  the  mina  should  be  worth  a  hun- 
dred drachmas  instead  of  seventy-three.  Plutarch  says  of 
this  decree:  "In  this  way,  by  paying  apparently  the  full 
value,  though  really  less,  those  who  owed  large  sums  gained 
considerably,  without  causing  any  loss  to  their  creditors." 
Says  Laveleye,  "  Plutarch  here  expresses  the  error  which  has 
inspired  all  issues  of  depreciated  and  paper  currency.  No 
one  seems  to  lose,  because  payments  are  made  just  as  well 
with  coins  reduced  in  value  as  with  the  unreduced.  What 
is  forgotten  is  that  prices  rise  in  proportion  as  the  unit  of 
money  loses  its  value." 

At  the  present  time  the  right  of  coinage  is,  as  a  rule,  re- 
served by  the  sovereign  State,  and  is  jealously  guarded.  In 
most  countries  the  coining  of  the  standard  coin  is  free. 

In  France,  Italy,  Switzerland  and  Belgium,  which  coun- 
tries agreed,  in  1863,  to  form  the  Latin  Monetary  Union, 


204  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

all  gold  coins  and  five-franc  pieces  are  accepted  as  standard. 
The  minor  silver  coins  are  a  legal  tender  for  only  small 
debts,  and  the  mints  cannot  issue  them  to  a  greater  extent 
than  the  value  of  six  francs  for  each  inhabitant.  The  sys- 
tem of  the  Latin  Union  is  the  double  standard  or  bi-metallic 
system ;  that  is,  it  permits  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage 
of  both  gold  and  silver  pieces,  to  each  of  which  it  gives  legal 
currency,  or  the  right  to  be  accepted  in  all  payments.  It 
has,  however,  been  compelled  to  modify  this  system  to  suit 
circumstances. 

Countries  whose  system  is  "  single  standard  or  mono-me- 
tallic," as  in  England,  where  it  is  gold,  and  in  Austria, 
where  it  is  silver,  accord  free  and  unlimited  coinage  and 
legal-tender  quality  only  to  the  metal  they  fix  as  the  stand- 
ard. The  mono-metallic  system  is  the  simpler,  as  to  relation 
of  value  between  coins  of  different  denominations ;  but  as 
to  relation  of  value  between  money  and  goods,  the  bi-metal' 
lie  system  is  more  sensitive  and,  consequently,  exact. 

In  1558  Thomas  Gresham,  one  of  the  councillors  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  demonstrated  that  the  money  whick  has 
the  less  value  will  drive  from  circulation  the  money  which 
has  the  greater  value.  This  is  known  in  monetary  science 
as  "  GRESHAM'S  LAW." 

In  1717  Sir  Isaac  Newton  showed  that  a  means  of  obvi- 
ating the  ill  effects  of  "  Gresham's  Law  "  existed,  by  fixing 
the  relation  of  value  between  gold  and  silver  the  same  in 
all  countries.  In  later  times  attempts  have  been  made  to 
do  this  by  means  of  International  Monetary  Congresses. 
Attempts  to  establish  a  fixed  relation  of  value  between  gold 
and  silver  by  single  countries  have  not  proved  satisfactory. 
Economists  are  by  no  means  agreed  as  to  which  metal,  gold 
or  silver,  is  preferable  as  a  standard.  That  the  largest 
number  of-countries,  certainly  the  largest  commercial  coun- 


HON.  DANIEL  W.  VOOBHEES. 

Born  in  Butler  co.,  Ohio,  September  26, 1827  ;  moved  in  infancy  with 
parents  to  Indiana;  graduated  at  Indiana  Asbury,  1849;  studied  law 
and  began  practice,  1851 ;  United  States  District  Attorney  for  Indiana, 
1858-61 ;  elected  to  37th,  38th,  39th,  40th,  41st  and  42d  Congresses ; 
appointed  Senator  to  fill  vacancy  caused  by  death  of  O.  P.  Morton,  No- 
vember 12,  1877 ;  distinguished  as  advocate  of  greenback  currency  and 
free  silver  coinage ;  elected  to  Senate,  1879 ;  re-elected,  1885  and  in 
1891 ;  eminent  as  leader  and  exponent  of  Democracy ;  member  of  Com- 
mittees on  Finance,  Immigration,  Library,  and  Chairman  of  Committee 
to  provide  additional  accommodations  for  Library  of  Congress. 

(205) 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  207 

tries,  adopt  gold  as  the  standard  metal,  implies  some  pow- 
erful reason  for  it ;  but  it  by  no  means  disproves  the  theory 
that  gold  itself  shifts  in  value  like  silver  and  probably  quite 
as  much.  Indeed,  not  a  few  aver  that  much  of  what  ap- 
pears to  be  a  shift  in  the  value  of  silver  is  really  a  shift  in 
the  value  of  gold,  with  which  the  silver  is  compared.  They 
also  say  that  in  the  very  nature  of  things  silver  is  a  metal 
of  more  stable  value  than  gold,  because  its  production  comes 
from  deep  mines,  with  costly  machinery,  and  an  annual  out- 
put which  cannot  be  increased  'except  at  great  expense,  nor 
lessened  without  great  loss ;  whereas  the  product  of  gold, 
most  of  which  comes  from  auriferous  sands,  may  increase 
or  diminish  very  greatly  in  a  short  space  of  time. 

BEGINNING   OF   AMERICAN   COINAGE. 

Immediately  after  the  peace  of  1783,  and  while  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  constituted  our  only  bonds  of 
government,  some  of  the  prominent  patriots,  notably  Morris, 
Jefferson  and  Hamilton,  began  agitation  looking  to  the 
establishment  of  an  American  Mint.  Naturally  the  char- 
acter of  the  proposed  mintage  came  under  discussion.  This 
was  the  "  Coinage  Question  "  of  that  day.  It  was  neither 
political  nor  bitter  as  at  present,  but  it  was  none  the  less 
earnest,  and  involved  many  of  the  points  now  under  dis- 
cussion. 

Great  respect  was  paid  to  the  views  of  Morris,  who,  as 
Superintendent  of  Finance,  was  well  qualified  to  speak  upon 
the  character  of  the  mintage.  He  reached  the  conclusion 
that  in  as  much  as  the  relative  values  of  gold  and  silvei 
were  continually  changing,  there  could  be  no  ratio  estab- 
lished between  them  which  would  prove  stable  and  satis- 
factory for  purposes  of  law.  Therefore,  the  only  way  out 
of  the  difficulty,  as  he  reasoned,  was  for  the  government  to 


aoS  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

adopt  silver  alone  as  its  metallic  money,  and  proceed  to  coin 
it.  He  was  a  silver  mono-metallist. 

On  account  of  Hamilton's  mastery  of  finance,  his  views 
were  equally  courted.  During  the  discussions  of  the  sub- 
ject, which  preceded  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  in 
1787,  Hamilton  made  it  plain  that  he  was  a  mono-metallist 
like  Morris,  but  recognizing  the  greater  value  of  gold,  its 
higher  place  among  commercial  nations  and  its  lesser  lia- 
bility to  sudden  and  extreme  fluctuation  in  price,  he  pre- 
ferred it  to  silver  as  the  metallic  standard.  Pending  these 
discussions  the  Confederation  came  to  an  end,  and  the  new 
Constitution  appeared  (1787)  with  its  provisions  as  to  money 
and  coinage  : — The  Congress  shall  have  power  "  to  coin 
money,  regulate  the  value  thereof  and  fix  the  standard  of 
weights  and  measures."  Art.  I. ;  Sec.  8.  Again,  "  No 
State  shall  coin  money,  emit  bills  of  credit,  make  anything 
but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts." 
Art.  I. ;  Sec.  10. 

Here  then  was  recognition  of  two  metals  as  money,  and 
provision  for  a  bi-metallic  currency,  should  such  a  result  be 
deemed  wise.  The  matter  of  establishing  a  mint  came  up 
as  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  important  under  the  new 
Constitution.  Hamilton  made  it  the  subject  of  a  full  and 
able  report  to  Congress  in  1791.  In  this  report  he  adhered 
to  his  views  that,  in  the  abstract,  a  mono-metallic  standard 
would  be  best,  but  that  such  standard  should  be  gold  in 
preference  to  silver.  However,  reasoning  on  the  line  of 
expediency,  he  feared  that  the  adoption  of  a  single  standard 
would  tend  to  limit  the  amount  of  the  circulating  medium, 
a  result  by  no  means  desirable,  in  the  infant  and  experi- 
mental stage  of  the  Government.  Therefore,  he  concluded 
that  a  double  standard  would  be  best  in  practice,  and  as  a 
policy  sufficiently  permanent  to  warrant  the  forms  of  law, 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  209 

His  reasons  and  conclusions  proved  to  be  acceptable  to 
the  Congress,  but  there  was  great  diversity  of  opinion 
respecting  the  question  of  the  relative  value  of  the  two 
metals.  What  should  be  the  fixed  ratio  between  gold  and 
silver  ?  In  fixing  such  ratio,  should  the  price,  or  purchas- 
ing power,  of  gold  at  home  or  abroad  be  taken  ?  It  was 
finally  agreed  that  American  values  were  alone  to  be  con- 
sidered, and  that  the  commercial  ratio  between  gold  and 
silver  should  be  as  one  is  to  fifteen.  One  ounce  of  gold 
was  to  be  taken  as  worth  fifteen  times  as  much  as  one  ounce 
of  silver. 

OUR   FIRST  COINAGE  ACT. 

The  first  Act  of  Congress  relating  to  coinage  was  passed 
April  2,  1/92,  and  was  entitled  "An  Act  establishing  a  mint 
and  regulating  the  coins  of  the  United  States."  This  Act 
provided  for  the  coinage  of  eagles,  half-eagles  and  quarter- 
eagles  of  gold,  and  for  "  dollars  or  units,"  half-dollars  and 
quarter-dollars,  dimes  and  half-dimes  of  silver.  The  com-- 
age  of  cents  and  half-cents  of  copper  was  also  provided 
for.  The  value  of  each  eagle  was  fixed  as  "  ten  dollars  or 
units,  and  to  contain  247  grains  and  four-eighths  of  a  grain 
of  pure  or  270  grains  of  standard  gold."  The  half  and 
quarter-eagles  bore  respectively  an  exact  proportion  to  the 
eagle  in  value,  weight  and  fineness. 

The  dollar,  or  unit,  was  thus  provided  for  : — "  Dollars  or 
units — each  to  be  of  the  value  of  a  Spanish  milled  dollar,  as 
the  same  is  now  current,  and  to  contain  371  grains  and 
four-sixteenths  of  a  grain  of  pure,  or  416  grains  of  standard 
silver."  The  fractional  silver  coins  contained  exactly  one- 
half,  one-fourth  and  one-tenth,  respectively,  of  the  quantity 
of  fine  silver  and  alloy  prescribed  for  the  dollar.  The  ideal 
unit  for  years  prior  and  subsequent  to  the  establishment  of 
the  Mint  was  the  pound  sterling,  yet  the  Spanish  dollar, 


210  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

during  that  early  period,  was  the  money  of  commerce  and 
the  practical  monetary  unit,  and  it  was  the  general  custom 
to  express  in  contracts  that  payment  should  be  made  in 
Spanish  milled  dollars.  The  advocates  of  silver  attach 
great  importance  to  the  expression,  "  dollars  or  units,"  and 
to  the  fact  that  the  established  unit  was  the  silver  dollar. 
Upon  this  is  based  their  claim  that  the  silver  dollar  is  the 
unit  of  our  monetary  system,  and  that  the  gold  coinage  is 
based  upon  that  unit.  Each  eagle  is  "to  be  of  the  value  of 
$10  or  units,"  and  it  is  declared  that  the  dollar  or  unit  shall 
be  of  silver. 

This  Act  provided  for  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of 
both  gold  and  silver,  and  that  both  coins  should  be  a  legal 
tender.  Thus  Section  14  reads  : 

"  It  shall  be  lawful  for  any  person  or  persons  to  bring  to 
the  said  Mint  gold  and  silver  bullion  in  order  to  their  being 
coined,  and  that  the  bullion  so  brought  shall  be  assayed  and 
coined  free  of  expense  to  the  person  or  persons  by  whom 
the  same  shall  have  been  brought." 

Free  coinage  in  this  sense  does  not  mean  that  the  mint 
did  its  work  for  nothing.  It  charged  one-half  per  cent,  to 
indemnify  it  for  the  time  expended  in  assaying  and  coining 
the  bullion. 

Section  16  of  the  Act  contained  the  legal  tender  clause, 
making  the  coins  of  both  metals,  even  including  the  frac- 
tional silver  coins,  a  legal  tender. 

A  gold  dollar,  or  rather  a  dollar  in  gold,  at  the  ratio 
fixed  in  the  above  Act,  would  contain  24.75  grains  of  gold. 
Multiply  this  by  15  (for  there  must  be  fifteen  times  as  much 
silver  in  a  dollar)  and  you  have  371.25  grains,  as  the  quan- 
tity of  fine  silver  for  the  silver  dollar.  This  ratio  was  not 
quite  that  which  prevailed  at  the  time  in  Europe,  the  ratio 
there  being  about  15^  to  I.  Our  Coinage  Act,  therefore, 


HON.  JOHN  LIND. 

Born  at  Ulm,  Sweden,  March  25,  1854;  resided  in  Minnesota  since 
1868 ;  educated  at  public  schools  ;  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  bar, 
1877  ;  rose  to  prominence  in  his  profession  ;  elected,  as  a  Republican, 
to  50th,  51st  and  52d  Congresses,  to  represent  Second  Minnesota  District, 
being  the  only  straight  Republican  elected  to  Congress  in  the  State  dur- 
ing the  elections  of  1890 ;  an  industrious,  conscientious  and  popular 
member,  serving  on  Inter-State  and  Foreign  Commerce  Committee, 
Committee  on  Pacific  Railroads  and  Enrolled  Bills. 

(211) 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  213 

put  too  low  a  commercial  value  on  gold.  It  was  worth 
more  as  bullion  in  the  markets  of  the  world  than  in  the 
shape  of  one  of  our  coins.  There  was,  therefore,  little  or 
no  inducement  for  any  one  to  take  gold  bullion  or  gold 
plate  to  the  mint  to  get  it  coined  into  gold  money,  for  the 
utmost  they  could  get  for  it  would  be  coin  of  gold  equal  to 
fifteen  times  its  weight  in  silver.  In  Europe  the  same 
weight  of  gold  would  command  fifteen  and  a  half  times  its 
weight  of  silver.  Not  only  was  there  no  inducement  to  sell 
gold  to  the  mint  for  purpose  of  coinage,  but  even  what  was 
coined  followed  to  a  great  extent  the  law  of  a  commercial 
commodity,  and  was  retired  as  something  more  worthy  to 
hold  than  the  cheaper  metal,  silver,  which  measured  its 
value  in  a  popular  sense,  or  else  it  sought,  even  as  gold 
coin,  the  market  abroad,  where  one  part  of  gold  com- 
manded fifteen  and  a  half  parts  of  silver. 

In  those  early  times  we  were  not  in  a  position  as  a  nation 
to  impress  a  commercial  value  on  metals  used  as  coin.  The 
law  fixed  a  ratio.  The  mint  impressed  the  law  on  the 
coins.  After  that  they  followed  largely  the  higher  and 
more  arbitrary  laws  of  commerce  and  of  nations.  They 
were  in  the  markets  of  the  world  and  subject  to  their  fluctua- 
tions. And  this  was  true,  even  though  we  had  great  need 
for  metallic  money,  as  all  new  countries  have  where  popu- 
lation is  sparse,  where  intercommunication  is  slow  and  ir- 
regular, and  where  credit  has  not  yet  learned  to  lend  its 
conveniences  to  trade. 

In  spite  of  the  ratio  of  15  to  I,  established  for  our  bi- 
metallic currency  by  the  Act  of  1792,  the  foreign,  or  com- 
mercial, ratio  forced  itself  upon  us,  and  for  forty -two  years, 
that  is  from  1792  to  1834,  the  value  of  silver,  as  compared 
with  gold,  fluctuated,  often  rising  nearly  to  16  to  I,  but 
never  falling  to  15  to  I.  It  is  clear,  then,  that  silver  was 
10 


2i4  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

cheaper  than  gold,  and  silver  currency  than  gold  currency, 
which  fact,  as  those  who  oppose  the  free  coinage  of  silver 
aver,  proved  the  truth  of  Gresham's  law,  mentioned  above, 
that  where  two  metals  are  made  a  legal  tender  and  given 
free  coinage  at  a  fixed  ratio  of  value,  the  cheaper  metal 
will  circulate  to  the  exclusion  of  the  dearer. 

To  illustrate :  A  yard  is  36  inches,  but  if  a  merchant 
finds  that  if,  within  law,  he  can  satisfy  his  customers  with  a 
yard  of  35^2  inches,  he  will  prefer  the  shorter  standard  of 
measure.  Sixteen  ounces  make  a  pound  avoirdupois,  but 
if  he  can,  within  law,  satisfy  his  customers  with  fifteen 
ounces,  he  will  do  so.  An  ounce  of  gold  is  worth  in  the 
markets  15^  ounces  of  silver;  he  will  not  use  the  gold,  but 
the  legal  equivalent  of  the  gold,  or  the  153^  ounces  of  sil- 
ver, namely,  the  1 5  ounces  which  he  finds  in  the  shape  of 
silver  coin,  and  a  legal  tender. 

This  presumes  that  the  ounce  of  gold  set  up  as  the 
standard  of  value  is  fixed,  like  the  yard,  as  a  standard  of 
measure  and  the  pound  as  a  standard  of  weight.  Commer- 
cial custom  and  monetary  science  incline  more  and  more  to 
this  presumption,  and  as  a  fact  gold  is  made  to  so  largely 
measure  the  value  of  silver  as  well  as  all  other  commodi- 
ties, among  enlightened  nations,  as  that  it  performs  the 
functions  of  a  yard  stick  as  to  lengths  or  a  pound  weight  as 
to  weights. 

But  here  the  advocates  of  bi-metallism  and  free  coinage 
say  that  gold  is  not  in  itself  an  unchangeable  measure  of 
value,  as  the  yard  stick  is  of  length  and  the  pound  weight 
is  of  weight.  It  has  its  own  fluctuations  just  as  silver  has, 
though  perhaps  not  to  the  same  extent.  It  is,  therefore,  not 
a  true  measure  of  value  for  silver.  The  Hon.  Marcus  A. 
Smith,  of  Arizona,  in  his  recent  speech  upon  "  The  free 
Coinage  of  Silver,"  thus  treats  of  this  question  of  gold 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  215 

measurements  and  of  the  principle  underlying  "  Gresham's 
Law:" 

"  The  inflexible  and  unchangeable  value,  which  is  often 
attributed  to  gold  coin,  is  simply  the  arbitrary  value  of  a 
standard  only  measured  by  itself.  This  is  the  value  to 
which  the  quoted  words  plainly  apply.  Governments  can 
no  mare  give  fixed  commodities,  or  comparative  value,  to 
gold  and  silver  than  they  can  arrest  the  motion  of  the  stars. 
David  Hume,  John  Locke,  Adam  Smith,  and  all  the  older 
economic  writers  agree  that  gold  and  silver  both  fluctuate 
in  value. 

"  Profs.  Jevons  and  Walker,  more  recent  authorities,  show 
by  comparative  tables  of  statistics  that  between  1789  and 
1809  gold  fell  46  per  cent.;  that  between  1809  and  1849  it 
arose  145  per  cent.,  and  that  within  twenty  years  after  the 
latter  date  it  fell  20  per  cent.  It  is  estimated  that  during 
the  past  eighteen  years  gold  has  again  risen  30  per  cent. 
Jevons  says  that — 

" '  In  respect  to  steadiness  of  values  the  metals  are  prob- 
ably less  satisfactory,  regarded  as  a  standard  of  value,  than 
many  other  commodities,  such  as  corn.' 

"  The  discovery  of  new  mines,  the  exhaustion  of  the  old 
mines,  the  arbitrary  adoption  of  the  metals  by  governments 
for  money  purposes  or  their  demonetization  and  disuse  for 
such  purposes,  and  the  greater  or  less  demand  for  them  for 
artistic  and  mechanical  uses,  are  accidents  and  circum- 
stances which  contribute  to  fluctuation  in  their  value.  Use- 
fulness or  utility  gives  desirability.  This  desirability  leads  to 
use,  and  whether  the  use  be  by  governments  or  individuals, 
or  both,  for  money  or  in  the  arts,  or  for  both,  it  creates  the 
demand  which,  in  connection  with  supply,  gives  exchange 
value. 

"  The  law,  custom,  or  usage,  that  rendered  the  fabled 


ai6  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

nugget  of  copper  a  proper  tender  by  the  mummy  as  a  fee 
to  Charon,  gave  it  its  monetary  value  for  that  purpose.  It 
was  the  tribal  law,  custom,  or  usage  which  ordained  the  use 
of  silver  as  money,  that  gave  to  the  400  shekels  of  silver 
which  Abraham  tendered  to  Ephron  the  Hittite,  and  '  cur- 
rent money  with  the  merchants,'  its  monetary  value;  it 
was  the  law,  custom,  or  usage  which  decreed  the  use  of 
silver  as  money,  that  gave  to  the  twenty  pieces  of  silver  for 
which  Joseph  was  sold  into  slavery,  and  the  thirty  pieces 
of  silver  for  which  the  gentle  Nazarene  was  betrayed  to  his 
death,  their  monetary  value. 

"  In  each  instance,  even  on  the  principles  of  barter,  the 
use  of  silver,  for  other  purposes  than  money,  was  a  factor, 
contributing  to  its  monetary  value,  and  not  by  itself  creating 
it.  Where  barter  is  applied  the  sum  total  of  usage  gives  to 
the  metals  what  is  termed  the  monetary  value,  but  what, 
more  properly  speaking,  is  only  commercial  value.  Crusoe, 
on  his  desert  isle,  sitting  among  his  sacks  of  gold,  is  the 
synonym  of  poverty  until  he  finds  the  grain  of  wheat  which 
gives  promise  of  food  and  life.  That  gold  had  no  commer- 
cial value.  The  grain  of  wheat  was  worth  immeasurably 
more  than  all  of  it.  But  let  civilized  governments,  or  even 
barbarous  tribes  find  it,  and  at  once  its  use  for  the  purposes 
of  money  makes  it  command  a  thousand  times  its  weight  in 
wheat. 

"  So  far  from  the  value  of  given  articles  '  for  other  pur- 
poses '  being  the  sole  cause  of  their  monetary  value,  the 
former  is  not  always  even  co-existent  with  and  equal  to  the 
latter.  Was  it  the  '  value  for  other  purposes '  of  the  iron 
in  the  coins  of  Sparta,  under  Lycurgus,  that  gave  to  those 
coins  their  monetary  value?  Was  it  the  value  of  the 
leather  '  for  other  purposes '  that  gave  to  the  money  of  Car- 
thage its  monetary  value  ?  Was  it  its  '  value  for  other  pur- 


HON.'  CALVIN  S.  BRICK 

Born  at  Denmark,  Ohio,  September  17,1845;  educated  at  Miami 
University;  served  in  Union  army,  as  Captain  of  Company  E,  108Ui 
Regiment  Ohio  Volunteers;  studied  law  at  University  of  Michigan;  ad- 
milted  to  practice,  186G;  Pre.-idential  elector,  on  Democratic  ticktt, 
1870  and  1884;  Delegate-at- Large  for  Ohio  to  St.  Louis  National  Demo- 
cratic Convention,  1888 ;  member  of  Democratic  National  Campaign 
Committee,  and  Chairman  of  same  for  campaign  of  1888  and  since ; 
elected  to  United  States  Senate  as  Democrat,  January,  1890;  member 
of  Committees  on  Irrigation,  Pensions,  Post  Offices  and  Post  Roads, 
Public  Buildings  and  Grounds,  and  Revolutionary  Claims. 

(218) 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  2i9 

poses '  that  gave  to  the  money  made  in  China  in  the  thir- 
teenth century  from  the  bark  of  the  mulberry  tree  its  mon- 
etary value?  Was  it  its  'value  for  other  purposes'  that 
gave  value  to  the  wampum  of  the  American  Indians  ?  Was 
it  their  '  value  for  other  purposes '  that  gave  to  the  glass 
coin  of  Arabia,  the  brass  coins  of  Rome,  the  pasteboard 
bills  of  Holland,  the  tenpenny  nails  of  Scotland,  the  musket- 
balls  of  Massachusetts,  and  the  cocoa-beans  of  Mexico, 
their  monetary  value  ? 

"  Is  it  its  value  for  other  purposes  that  gives  to  the  $800,- 
000,000  of  silver  coin  in  France  to-day  its  monetary  value  ? 
Is  it  its  value  for  other  purposes  that  gives  to  our  $400,- 
000,000  of  standard  silver  coin  and  the  millions  more  of 
subsidiary  and  minor  coin  their  monetary  value?  The 
commercial  value  of  the  silver  in  the  coin  of  France  is 
$170,000,000  less  than  its  monetary  value,  and  in  the  United 
States  nearly  $100,000,000  less.  How  obvious,  therefore, 
it  is  that  governments  not  only  by  the  use  of  the  metals  as 
money  add  to  their  commercial  value,  but  at  times  confer  a 
monetary  value  beyond  and  independent  of  the  commercial 
value  ? 

"  Much  is  said  about  one  kind  of  money  driving  another 
kind  out  of  circulation.  The  Gresham  Law  is  simply  a  law 
of  displacement.  It  applies  to  all  articles  of  commerce  as 
well  as  to  money.  The  self-binder  displaces  the  sickle,  and 
the  railway  train  displaces  the  stage-coach.  But  the  theory 
that  the  scarcest  money  is  the  best  money  is  on  par  with 
the  idea  that  the  smallest  crop  is  the  best  crop.  Gold  and 
silver,  like  other  commodities,  go  where  the  highest  prices 
are  offered,  whether  the  offer  comes  from  individuals  or 
governments.  Monetary  value  is  national;  commercial 
value  is  cosmopolitan.  The  single-standard  metal,  whether 
it  be  gold  or  silver,  is  alternately  money  and  commodity 


220  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

instrument  and  article  of  commerce.  Economic  law  is  in- 
exorable. 

"  England  adopted  the  single-standard  in  1819,  and  Ger- 
many, the  Latin  Union,  and  minor  European  states,  at  a 
later  day.  Since  1819  the  Bank  of  England  has  suspended 
specie  payment  nearly  a  dozen  times,  the  land-owners  of 
England  have  been  reduced  from  165,000  to  less  than 
30,000.  Her  $3,500,000,000  national  debt  is  as  large  as 
at  the  close  of  the  Napoleonic  wars,  yet  bread  riots  have 
periodically  startled  her  cities  and  agitated  her  statesmen. 
But  two  years  ago,  when  heavy  drafts  were  made  on  her 
gold  by  Russia,  her  Barings  touched  the  borders  of  insol- 
vency, and,  in  spite  of  all  the  assistance  of  the  Bank  of 
England,  plunged  several  leading  New  York  banks  into 
ruin  and  carried  our  country  to  the  edge  of  panic  and  finan- 
cial disaster,  Goschen,  the  chancellor  of  the  British  Ex- 
chequer, announced  to  Parliament  that  the  perils  attending 
the  increasing  competition  for  gold  made  a  consideration  of 
the  return  to  bi-metallism  advisable. 

"  The  rule  or  law  of  Sir  Thomas  Gresham  did  not  apply 
to  gold  and  silver.  In  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  I  think 
it  was,  the  coin  in  circulation  was  found  to  be  degraded  by 
clipping  and  general  short  weight.  It  was  found  that  as 
long  as  any  clipped  or  abraded  piece  of  silver  would  buy 
as  much  as  a  full-weight  piece  of  silver,  the  heavy  piece 
was  kept  out  of  commerce  and  used  in  the  arts,  and  the 
spurious  piece  did  the  trade  of  the  realm.  The  light  dis- 
placed the  heavy  in  commerce,  or  had  such  tendency,  and 
this  is  all  that  the  Gresham  law  meant." 

However  these  things  may  be  in  theory,  in  fact  our  early 
gold  coins,  being  worth  more,  when  compared  with  silver, 
than  the  value  which  was  stamped  upon  them,  began  to 
depart  either  from  circulation  or  from  the  country  entirely. 


THE  SltVER  QUESTION.  221 

This  movement  began  almost  simultaneously  with  the  pas- 
sage of  our  first  Coinage  Act.  It  was  very  perceptible  by 
1810,  and  continued  until  1834.  In  all  that  time  there  were 
less  than  $12,000,000  in  gold  coined,  a  large  per  cent,  of 
which  was  lost  entirely  to  the  country  by  export.  By  1814 
the  mintage  of  gold  coins  had  fallen  to  $77,000.  In  1815  it 
fell  to  $3,000.  In  1816  the  coinage  of  gold  amounted  to 
nothing.  After  1819  gold  disappeared  as  a  circulating  me- 
dium in  the  United  States. 

During  this  time  (1792-1834)  there  were  only  1,439,417 
silver  dollars  coined,  and  none  of  these  were  coined  after 
1805.  The  coinage  of  the  silver  dollar  was  in  all  probabil- 
ity discouraged  by  the  fact  that  gold  was  seen  to  be  disap- 
pearing, and  with  the  hope  that  a  scarcity  of  silver  dollars 
might  enhance  their  value.  Or,  their  coinage  may  have 
ceased  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  the  foreign  silver  coins  of 
that  denomination  were  ample  for  trade  purposes,  the  bulk 
of  our  metallic  currency  being  at  that  time  of  foreign  make. 
The  mint  was  not,  however,  idle.  It  was  busy  on  fractional 
or  subsidiary  coins.  By  1834  it  had  coined  $50,000,000  of 
silver  half  dollars,  and  a  proportion  of  lesser  coins,  which, 
with  the  large  per  cent,  of  foreign  subsidiary  coins,  furnished 
an  ample  minor  currency. 

This  currency  condition  was  far  from  satisfactory.  Bi- 
metallism was  not  proving  the  theories  of  its  authors.  The 
question  of  a  change  began  to  be  mooted.  Some  few  alter- 
ations were  made  in  the  Coinage  Act  from  time  to  time,  but 
the  original  Act  remained'in  all  its  essential  features  up  till 
1834. 

By  1831  Hon.  Campbell  P.  White,  an  authority  on  such 
matters,  had  reached  the  conclusion  that  a  system  which 
sought  to  regulate  the  standard  of  value  in  both  gold  and 
silver  had  inherent  and  incurable  defects.  He  thought  it 


222  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

had  been  clearly  ascertained  by  experience  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  maintain  both  metals  in  concurrent,  simultaneous 
and  promiscuous  circulation. 

In  1832  a  Committee  on  Coinage  reported  that  it  could 
not  find  "  that  both  metals  have  ever  circulated  simulta- 
neously, concurrently  and  indiscriminately  in  any  country 
where  there  were  banks  or  money  dealers ;  and  they  enter- 
tain the  conviction  that  the  nearest  approach  to  an  invariable 
standard  is  its  establishment  in  one  metal,  which  metal  shall 
compose  exclusively  the  currency  of  large  payments." 

The  time  had  now  come  for  a  substantial  change  in  the 
Coinage  Act  of  1792.  What  was  chiefly  apparent  to  all  in 
1834  was  the  fact  that  the  ratio  between  gold  and  silver,  es- 
tablished by  that  Act,  was  no  longer,  if  it  had  ever  been, 
correct.  It  undervalued  gold.  But  there  was  no  general 
departure,  so  far  as  the  debates  show,  from  the  bi-metallic 
idea.  Statesmen  still  preferred  to  struggle  with  the  intricate 
problem  of  finding  a  ratio  between  gold  and  silver  which 
would  prove  to  be  the  ratio  of  commerce. 

The  Director  of  the  Mint,  in  his  report  to  the  Congress 
for  the  year  1833,  said  that  the  "  new  coined  gold  frequently 
remains  in  the  mint  uncalled  for,  though  ready  for  delivery, 
until  the  day  arrives  for  a  packet  to  sail  for  Europe."  And 
he  concluded  that  the  entire  coinage  of  gold  in  the  future, 
amounting  to  perhaps  $2,000,000  annually,  would  be  ex- 
ported, unless  there  was  a  reform  of  the  gold  standard. 

In  his  advocacy  of  a  change  in  the  ratio  between  gold  and 
silver,  Hon.  Thomas  H.  Benton,  in  a  speech  delivered  in  the 
Senate  in  1834,  said:  "The  false  valuation  put  upon  gold 
has  rendered  the  mint  of  the  United  States,  so  far  as  the  gold 
coinage  is  concerned,  a  most  ridiculous  and  absurd  institu- 
tion. It  has  coined,  and  that  at  large  expense  to  the  United 
States,  2,262,177  pieces  of  gold,  valued  at  $11,852,820,  and 


HON.  DAVID  B.  CULBERSON. 

i  Born  in  Troup  co.,  Ga.,  September  29,  1830 ;  educated  at  Brown- 
wood  ;  studied  law  and  moved  to  Texas,  1856;  elected  to  State  Legis- 
lature, 1859:  served  in  Confederate  army  throughout  war;  elected  to 
State  Legislature,  1864;  elected,  as  a  Democrat,  to  44th,  45th,  46th, 
47th,  48th,  49th,  50th,  51st  and  52d  Congresses,  to  represent  Fourth 
Texas  District,  composed  of  eleven  counties;  an  earnest  and  popular 
member,  admired  by  a  large  constituency ;  active  on  the  floor  as  debater 
and  parliamentarian ;  Chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee. 

(224) 


HON.  JAMES  MCMILLAN. 

Born  at  Hamilton,  Ont.,  May  12,  1838  ;  prepared  for  College,  but 
entered  business  in  Detroit,  1855 ;  established  Michigan  Car  Company, 
1863;  member  and  chairman  of  Republican  State  Central  Committee, 
1876,  1886,  1890 ;  President  of  Detroit  Park  Commission  and  Board 
of  Estimates;  Republican  Presidential  Elector,  1884;  elected  to  United 
States  Senate,  as  Republican,  for  term  beginning  March  4,  1889 ;  an  in- 
dustrious,  practical  member,  whose  opinions  command  respect ;  Chair- 
man of  Committee  on  District  of  Columbia  and  member  of  Committees 
on  Agriculture  and  Forestry,  Education  and  Labor,  and  Post  Offices  and 
Post  Roads. 

(225) 


THE   SILVER  QUESTION.  227 

where  are  the  pieces  now  ?  Not  one  of  them  to  be  seen  ! 
All  sold  and  exported !  To  enable  the  friends  of  gold  to 
go  to  work  at  the  right  place  to  effect  the  recovery  of  that 
precious  metal  which  their  fathers  once  possessed — which 
the  subjects  of  European  kings  now  possess — which  the 
citizens  of  the  young  Republics  of  the  south  all  possess — 
which  even  the  free  negroes  of  San  Domingo  possess — but 
which  the  yeomanry  of  this  America  have  been  deprived  of 
for  more  than  twenty  years,  and  will  be  deprived  of  forever 
unless  they  discover  the  cause  of  the  evil,  and  apply  the 
remedy  to  the  root." 

Under  these  auspices  the  Coinage  Act  of  June  28,  1834, 
was  passed.  By  this  Act  the  pure  gold  in  the  eagle  was 
reduced  from  247*^  grains  to  232  grains,  and  a  correspond- 
ing reduction  was  made  in  the  half  eagles  and  quarter 
eagles.  The  alloy  was  changed  from  22^  to  26,  making 
the  eagle  contain  258  grains  of  standard  gold  instead  of  270 
grains.  The  Act  of  1834  made  no  change  in  the  silver  coins. 
This  change  in  the  gold  coinage  made  the  ratio  nearly  16  to 
i,  the  exact  ratio  being  16.002  to  I.  Why  this  ratio  was 
established,  or,  for  that  matter,  why  any  change  at  all  was 
made,  is  difficult  to  understand,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  at 
that  date  the  commercial  ratio  between  the  two  metals  was 
I  to  15.6,  which,  for  convenience,  Europe  was  calling  I  to 
1^/4-  The  new  currency  ratio  of  I  to  16  was  as  far  removed 
from  the  commercial  ratio  of  I  to  15^  as  was  the  old  cur- 
rency ratio  of  i  to  15.  Only  now  the  boot  was  on  the  other 
foot.  By  the  Act  of  1792  gold  was  undervalued  and  silver 
overvalued.  By  the  Act  of  1834  the  matter  was  reversed, 
and  gold  was  overvalued  and  silver  undervalued.  Or  con- 
sidering the  bi-metallic  views  of  the  framers  of  these  acts, 
the  result  of  the  Act  of  1792  was  to  overvalue  silver  as  to 
gold ;  and  the  effect  of  the  Act  of  1834  was  to  overvalue  gold 


228  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

as  to  silver.  In  their  practical  workings  these  Acts  quite 
threw  their  framers  from  their  bi-metallic  base,  and  inasmuch 
as  in  the  Act  of  1792  they  attempted  to  exalt  silver  at  the 
expense  of  gold,  they  became,  according  to  the  laws  laid 
down  in  economics,  silver  monometallists.  So,  inasmuch  as 
in  the  Act  of  1834  they  sought  to  exalt  gold  at  the  expense 
of  silver,  they  became  gold  monometallists.  There  were  not 
wanting  those  who  sounded  the  note  of  warning  that  the  Act 
of  1834  would  but  repeat  that  of  1792,  in  the  respect  that 
cheap  gold  would  drive  out  the  silver  circulation  just  as 
cheap  silver  had  driven  out  the  gold  circulation. 

The  Act  of  1834  proved  very  unsatisfactory  in  its  opera- 
tion. Silver  fluctuated,  in  a  commercial  sense,  for  years, 
but  it  did  not  fall  in  price  to  the  ratio  of  16  to  I  of  gold. 
Consequently  silver  became  worth  more,  in  relation  to 
gold,  as  bullion  or  plate  than  as  coin,  and  it  began  to  dis- 
appear, there  being  no  inducement  to  coin  it.  After  1840, 
sight  of  a  silver  dollar  was  rare,  and  as  a  coin,  it  played  no 
conspicuous  part  in  our  circulation,  for  very  many  years. 
Monometallists  regard  the  effects  of  the  Act  of  1834  as 
another  striking  vindication  of  the  truth  of  "  Gresham's 
Law,"  that  the  cheaper  money  invariably  drives  the  dearer 
from  circulation. 

ACT   OF    1837. 

Dissatisfaction  with  the  Act  of  1834  led  to  that  of  January 
1 8,  1837,  which  was,  in  its  form,  a  supplement  to  that  of 
1834,  yet  a  complete  revision  of  the  laws  of  mintage,  and 
was  in  fact  known  as  "The  Mint  Act  of  1837."  This  Act 
changed  the  standard  of  both  gold  and  silver  coins  and  the 
ratio  between  the  metals.  The  standard  for  gold  and  silver 
coins  was  fixed  at  .goo  fine,  that  is,  900  parts  of  pure  metal 
to  100  parts  of  alloy.  This  increased  the  pure  gold  in  the 
dollar  from  23.20  to  23.22  grains,  and  fixed  the  ratio  between 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  229 

the  two  metals  at  15.98  to  I.  The  silver  dollar  was  changed 
from  416  grains  of  standard  silver  to  412^  grains,  and  the 
fractional  coins  were  made  to  correspond  in  exact  propor- 
tion. To  make  the  alloy  equal  to  one-tenth  of  the  weight 
of  the  coin,  it  was  necessary  to  add  the  small  fraction  of 
two-tenths  of  one  grain  of  gold  to  the  eagle.  No  change, 
however,  was  made  in  the  quantity  of  pure  silver  contained 
in  the  dollar.  That  remained  at  37 1^  grains,  and  it  con- 
tinues at  that  figure.  This  Act  also  provided  that  "  gold  and 
silver  bullion  brought  to  the  mint  for  coinage  shall  be  re- 
ceived and  coined  by  the  proper  officers  for  the  benefit  of 
the  depositor."  This  provision  for  coinage  was  taken  from 
the  previous  Acts,  and  continued  the  coinage  of  the  two 
metals  upon  the  same  footing.  The  fact  that  there  was  no 
change  in  the  quantity  of  silver  in  the  dollar  has  given  origin 
and  currency  to  the  phrase  "  Dollar  of  the  Fathers,"  or  the 
more  alliterative  and  catchy  term  "  Dollar  of  the  Daddies." 

What  is  regarded  as  a  serious  error  in  all  the  Coinage 
Acts  up  to  and  including  that  of  1837  was  the. fact  that  the 
minor  coins  had  been  made  to  contain  the  exact  proportion 
of  silver  contained  in  the  dollar.  They,  therefore,  paid  the 
penalty  visited  on  the  silver  dollar.  They  shrank  from  cir- 
culation, or  left  the  country,  and  this  became  particularly 
manifest  after  the  inequality  between  the  production  of  gold 
and  silver  in  this  country  set  in  with  the  discovery  of  gold 
in  California. 

Prior  to  this  discovery  the  world's  production  of  gold  and 
silver  was  nearly  equal,  the  annual  average  of  gold  produc- 
tion between  1841  and  1851  being  about  $38,000,000,  and 
that  of  silver  about  $34,000,000.  But  from  1849  to  1851 
the  world  seems  to  have  poured  forth  its  treasures  of  gold 
with  unparalleled  liberality.  California,  Russia  and  Aus- 
tralia contributed  a  new  and  unprecedented  output  of  gold. 


230  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

In  the  five  years,  from  1851  to  1855,  the  world's  produo 
tion  of  gold  leaped  from  $38,000,000  to  $140,000,000  an- 
nually, while  in  those  years  the  production  of  silver  only 
increased  from  $34,000,000  to  $40,000,000  annually.  The 
equality  between  the  two  products  prior  to  1849  did  not 
serve  to  materially  affect  their  commercial  ratio,  but  the 
inequality  after  that  year  greatly  affected  it,  by  giving  a  still 
higher  value  to  silver.  This  fact,  co-operating  with  the 
effect  of  the  Coinage  Act,  enhanced  the  difficulty  already 
spoken  of  with  the  circulation  of  silver  coins  of  every  de- 
nomination. "  There  is,"  said  Mr.  Dunham  in  Congress  in 
1853,  "a  constant  stimulant  to  gather  up  every  silver  coin 
and  send  it  to  market  as  bullion,  to  be  exchanged  for  gold, 
and  the  result  is,  the  country  is  almost  devoid  of  small 
change  for  the  ordinary  small  transactions,  and  what  we 
have  is  of  a  depreciated  character." 

The  commercial  ratio  in  Europe  being  about  15%^  to  I, 
silver  coins  were  worth  three  per  cent,  more  for  export  than 
our  gold  coins;  that  is,  they  were  worth  three  per  cent,  more 
as  bullion  than  as  money.  When  it  became  apparent  that 
the  country  was  thus  being  depleted  of  its  change,  agitation 
set  in  for  a  remedy. 

COINAGE   ACT   OF    1849. 

The  Coinage  Act  of  March  3,  1849,  was  a  provision  for  a 
fuller  and  larger  mintage  of  gold,  whose  production  bade 
fair  to  be  greatly  increased  in  this  country  owing  to  devel- 
opments in  California.  It  authorized  the  coinage  of  double 
eagles,  and  also  of  gold  dollars.  "  Double  eagles  should 
each  be  of  the  value  of  twenty  dollars,  or  units,  and  gold 
dollars  should  each  be  of  the  value  of  one  dollar,  or  uni^ 
these  coins  to  be  uniform  in  all  respects  to  the  standard  for 
gold  coins  now  established  by  law." 


HON.  JOHN  R.  MCPHERSON. 

Born  at  Dorchester,  N.  H.,  October  9,  1834;  academically  educated  ; 
learned  locomotive  building  at  Manchester,  N.  H. ;  moved  to  New  Jer- 
sey to  engage  in  Railway  business;  largely  interested  in  same;  Presi- 
dent of  First  National  Bank,  Long  Branch ;  number  of  New  Jersey 
Legislature  (H.  R.),  1878-80;  delegate  to  Democratic  National  Con- 
vention, 1880;  eletced  as  Democrat  to  United  States  Senate  for  term 
March  4,  1887 ;  prominent  in  party  and  national  affairs,  and  a  leader 
in  his  State;  Chairman  of  Select  Committee  on  Potomac  River  Froni. 
and  member  of  Committee  on  Finance,  Immigration  and  Naval  Affairs. 

(230 


THE  SILVER    QUESTION.  333 

It  was  not  until  the  Act  of  1853  tnat  tne  coinage  of  three 
dollar  gold  pieces  was  authorized,  "  of  the  value  of  three 
dollars,  or  units,  conformable  in  all  respects  to  the  standard 
gold  coins  now  authorized  by  law."  The  word  "  dollar  or 
unit "  was  used  in  all  the  Coinage  Acts  to  describe  the  value 
of  the  gold  coins  prior  to  1873. 

COINAGE   ACT   OF    1853. 

This  Act  is  significant  in  our  monetary  history  as  being 
the  first  which  recognized  the  difficulty  of  maintaining  a 
perfect  bimetallic  standard,  and  the  first  which  contained  a 
step  toward  the  demonetization  of  silver.  It  was  passed  in 
February,  1853,  an<^  ^  reduced  the  weight  of  the  half  dollar 
from  206^  grains  of  standard  silver  to  192  grains  of  the 
same.  All  the  smaller  coins  were  reduced  in  proportion. 
At  the  same  time  the  full  legal  tender  quality  was  removed 
from  these  subsidiary  coins,  and  they  became  no  longer  a 
legal  tender  for  sums  exceeding  five  dollars.  This  provision 
has  not  since  been  removed.  Again,  it  was  provided  that 
the  bullion  for  the  coinage  of  fractional  silver  should  be 
purchased  directly  by  the  government,  or  by  the  Director 
of  the  Mint  on  account  of  the  government,  and  that  the  gain 
arising  from  the  coinage  thereof  should  be  credited  to  the 
Mint.  This  was  a  blow  at  the  "  free  and  unlimited  coinage  " 
of  the  subsidiary  coins.  By  this  reduction  of  the  amount 
of  silver  in  the  fractional  coins  to  the  extent  of  about  seven 
per  cent.,  all  inducement  to  melt  them  up  or  sell  them  as 
bullion  was  removed ;  for,  although  the  silver  dollar  still 
remained  at  from  three  to  three  and  a  half  per  cent,  above 
the  gold  dollar  in  value,  the  seven  per  cent,  reduction  in  the 
commercial  value  of  the  fractional  coins  brought  them  three 
to  three  and  a  half  per  cent,  below  the  value  of  gold ;  quite 
enough  of  depreciation  to  save  them  to  the  circulation. 


234  THE  vSILVER  QUESTION. 

It  must  be  remarked  of  the  period  which  led  to,  embraced 
and  immediately  followed  the  Coinage  Act  of  1853,  that  it 
was  a  period  in  which  there  was  hardly  any  coinage  of 
silver  dollars,  and  practically  no  circulation  of  them.  In 
1850  only  $47,500  silver  dollars  were  coined;  in  1851, 
^1,300;  in  1852,  $1,100.  All  attention  was  paid  to  the 
coinage  of  gold,  the  total  coinage  of  which,  in  1852,  was 
$56,000,000,  fully  $2,000,000  of  which  was  in  gold  dollars. 

The  framers  of  the  Act  of  1853  paid  no  attention  to  the 
fact  that  our  silver  production  from  1851  to  1855  was  about 
$400,000  per  year.  They  saw  only  the  large  gold  produc- 
tion of  over  $60,000,000  per  year,  and  the  spirit  of  the  Act  was 
to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to  establish,  as  far  as 
possible,  a  single  currency  standard  of  gold.  True,  they  did 
not  interfere  with  the  silver  dollar.  There  was  no  need  to. 
None  were  being  coined.  None  were  in  circulation. 

FROM  1853  TO  1873. 

This  period  is  marvellous  in  the  history  of  metallic  money 
and  monetary  systems  at  home  and  abroad.  The  world's 
production  of  gold  from  1850  to  1870  was  $2,725,000,000, 
or  five  times  as  much  as  in  the  preceding  twenty  years,  and 
quite  as  much  as  during  the  entire  period  from  the  discov- 
ery of  America  to  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California. 

The  commercial  world  b'jcame  alarmed  at  these  figures, 
fearing  a  general  derangement  of  values.  That  the  com- 
mercial value  of  gold  was  decreasing  was  manifest  from  the 
increase  in  the  price  of  standard  commodities  all  the  world 
over.  Theories  arose  in  all  directions  as  to  remedies.  Some 
French  economists  thought  it  an  excellent  time  to  demon- 
etize gold,  and  establish  a  single  silver  standard.  Others 
thought  the  time  opportune  to  establish  the  principle  of  bi- 
metallism, provided  the  several  commercial  nations  could  be 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION,  235 

brought  to  give  common  consent.  France,  Italy,  Switzer- 
land and  Belgium  formed  what  was  called  "  The  Latin 
Monetary  Union  "  in  1863,  based  on  bi-metallism.  But  in 
1867  was  held  the  "  International  Monetary  Conference," 
at  Paris,  in  which  it  was  laid  down  that  the  adoption  of  a 
single  gold  standard  was  a  principle  necessary  to  universal 
coinage. 

Following  this,  in  1871,  came  the  defeat  of  France  in  the 
Franco-Russian  war,  and  her  payment  of  an  immense  sub- 
sidy in  gold  to  Germany.  Immediately,  Germany,  by  a 
series  of  Coinage  Acts  from  1871  to  1873,  demonetized  her 
silver  and  adopted  a  single  gold  standard.  She  stopped  coin- 
ing silver  and  threw  it  on  the  market,  selling  $140,000,000 
worth  between  1873  and  1879.  This  alarmed  the  countries 
pledged  to  a  bi-metallic  system.  The  Latin  Union  closed 
the  mints  of  France,  Belgium,  Italy  and  Switzerland,  to  the 
coinage  of  silver,  thus  confessing  their  inability  to  maintain 
the  two  metals  on  an  equality  and  as  money.  For  thirteen 
years  France  did  not  issue  a  single  legal  tender  silver  coin, 
and  on  January  I,  1891,  the  Latin  Union  went  out  of  ex- 
istence. 

Meanwhile,  our  own  country  was  passing  through  the 
throes  of  war  and  the  demoralization  attending  an  expanded 
and  strained  credit.  In  1861  the  government  became  a  bor- 
rower in  gold  to  the  extent  of  $  100,000,000.  In  February, 
1862,  it  passed  the  "  Legal  Tender  Act,"  under  which 
$150,000,000  in  "  Greenbacks  "  were  issued  as  legal  tenders. 
At  once  gold  jumped  to  a  premium.  The  government's 
promises  to  pay  were  so  much  cheaper  and  inferior  as  a  cir- 
culating medium,  that  gold  hied  away  and  disappeared  as 
currency. 

In  July  of  the  same  year  another  issue  of  $150,000,000 
of  legal  tenders  was  authorized.  Gold  rose  to  a  still  higher 


236  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

premium.  Even  our  fractional  silver  currency,  depreciated 
as  it  was  by  the  Act  of  1853,  went  to  a  premium  and  dis- 
appeared with  the  gold.  This  made  the  fractional  paper 
currency  necessary.  Subsequent  uses  of  government  credit 
in  various  forms  and  for  war  purposes,  continued  to  advance 
the  premium  on  gold  till  in  July,  1884,  it  reached  185  per 
cent.  Peace,  the  ability  of  the  government  to  pay,  as  steps 
toward  resumption  showed,  and  final  resumption  in  1879, 
mark  the  decline  of  gold  to  par  again,  or  rather  the  exalta- 
tion of  the  government  promise  to  pay  to  the  gold  standard. 

THE   ACT   OF    1873. 

This  Act  has  become  more  famous  through  subsequent 
discussions  of  it,  than  on  account  of  its  intrinsic  merits  or 
the  debates  which  attended  its  passage.  It  is  now  "  The 
Odious  Demonetization  Act  of  1873  "  or  "  The  Conspiracy 
Against  Silver  "  of  that  year.  The  facts  connected  with  its 
passage  hardly  support  the  charge  that  it  was  a  "  trick " 
played  on  the  advocates  of  free  silver  coinage  by  their 
opponents.  As  to  the  intimation  that  "  its  contents  were 
not  fully  known  "  or  sufficiently  known,  that  is  matter  per- 
sonal to  the  majority  which  passed  it  and  remote  from  its 
merits. 

The  approaches  to  no  other  Coinage  Act  seem  to  have 
been  more  deliberate  and  gradual.  The  original  draft  of  the 
Act  was  presented  to  the  Senate  as  early  as  April,  1870,  by 
the  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Hon.  Geo.  S.  Boutwell. 
It  had  been  prepared  with  great  deliberation,  and  under  the 
supervision  of  Dr.  Linderman,  Director  of  the  Mint.  It  pro- 
ceeded on  the  theory  that  if  the  American  silver  dollar  were 
made  the  equivalent  of  the  five-franc  piece  of  France — France 
being  on  a  bi-metallic  basis,  and  with  a  great  volume  of  sil- 
ver currency — said  dollar  might  become  interchangeable 


HON.  WILLIAM  P.   FRYE. 

Born  at  Lewiston,  Me.,  September  2,1831;  graduated  at  Bowdoin 
College,  1850;  educated  for  the  bar;  elected  to  State  Legislature,  1801, 
1862,  1867;  Mayor  of  Lewiston,  1866-67;  Attorney-General,  1867-68- 
69 ;  member  of  Republican  National  Executive  Committee,  1872-76- 
80;  Presidential  Elector,  1864;  Delegate  to  Republican  National  Con- 
ventions, 1872-76-80 ;  elected  member  of  42d,  43d,  44th,  45th,  46lh 
and  47th  Congresses ;  elected  to  succeed  James  G.  Elaine  in  United 
States  Senate  in  1880;  re-elected  Senator  in  1883  and  1888;  chairman 
of  Committee  on  Commerce  and  on  Pacific  Railroads,  and  member  of 
Committee  on  Foreign  Relations ;  of  wide  repute  as  orator  and 
statesman. 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  239 

with  European  coins  of  like  value.  The  bill,  therefore,  fixed 
the  weight  of  the  silver  dollar  at  384  grains  standard  silver, 
that  being  the  weight  of  the  five-franc  piece. 

But  as  this  was  really  to  reduce  the  ratio  between  silver 
and  gold  to  about  14.8  to  I,  and  as  the  bill  gave  to  the  sil- 
ver dollar  a  limited  legal  tender  power,  it  was  not  regarded 
as  one  which  would  effect  its  object  and  make  our  silver 
dollar  float  all  over  the  world.  It,  therefore,  flitted  back 
and  forward  between  the  two  houses  of  Congress  for  three 
years,  the  subject  of  repeated  debates  and  amendments,  the 
theme  of  much  newspaper  discussion,  till  at  length  it  was 
passed  by  the  House,  with  the  clause  providing  for  a  silver 
dollar  of  384  grains  in  it.  This  provision  was  struck  out 
by  the  Senate,  and  what  was  called  the  "  Trade  Dollar " 
clause  was  inserted  in  its  stead.  This  clause  provided  for  a 
trade  dollar  of  420  grains  standard  silver  and  378  grains 
pure  silver,  and  a  limit  on  its  legal  tender  quality  to  sums 
of  five  dollars.  The  object  was  to  provide  a  market  for  our 
production  of  silver  and  to  make  a  dollar  which  would  sub- 
stitute the  old  Spanish  dollar  in  the  Pacific  trade  with  China 
and  Japan.  It  was  a  dollar  of  commerce  and  not  circu- 
lation. 

The  bill  then  went  to  a  Committee  of  Conference  between 
the  two  Houses,  where  its  final  form  was  agreed  upon.  It 
then  passed  both  Houses  and  became  a  law  February  12, 
1873.  It  provided  that  the  gold  coins  "  shall  be  a  one  dol- 
lar piece,  which,  at  the  standard  weight  of  25.8  grains,  shall 
be  the  unit  of  value,"  etc. 

The  gold  coins  of  larger  denominations  were  based  upon 
the  one  dollar  piece.  The  silver  coins  were  declared  to  be 
a  trade  dollar,  etc.,  and  "  the  weight  of  the  trade  dollar  shall 
be  420  grains  troy  .  .  .  and  said  coins  shall  be  a  legal  ten- 
der at  their  nominal  value  for  any  amount  not  exceeding 
u 


240  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

five  dollars  in  any  one  payment."  Thus  the  standard  silver 
dollar  was  not  only  struck  from  the  list  of  coins,  but  its  sub- 
stitute was  limited  in  legal  tender  power  and  classified  with 
the  fractional  coins.  No  change  was  made  in  the  weight  or 
quality  of  the  gold  coins.  The  important  changes  made, 
and  which  have  given  rise  to  so  much  contention  since, 
were : 

1.  The  gold  dollar  was  made  the  unit  value. 

2.  The  trade  was  substituted  for  the  standard  silver  dollar. 

3.  Silver  was  deprived  of  full  legal  tender  power,  and 
limited  to  payments  in  sums  of  five  dollars. 

No  change  was  made  in  the  minting  privilege  accorded 
the  two  metals,  except  with  reference  to  fractional  coins. 
Owners  of  silver  were  permitted  to  deposit  their  bullion  at 
the  Mint  upon  the  same  terms  as  owners  of  gold  bullion,  so 
far  as  trade  dollars  were  concerned.  The  provision  of  the 
Act  of  1853,  to  buy  silver  bullion  on  Government  account 
for  coining  fractional  silver,  was  continued  in  the  Act  of 
1873,  but  any  owner  of  silver  bullion  could  "  deposit  the 
same  at  any  mint,  to  be  formed  into  bars  or  into  trade  dol- 
lars," at  a  charge  not  to  exceed  the  actual  average  cost  to 
the  mint.  In  answering  the  complaint  that  the  Act  of  1873 
struck  down  silver,  Mr.  Ehrich,  of  Colorado,  says : — 

"Silver  has  been  struck  down,  but  not  by  the  bill  of  1873, 
nor  by  any  bill  concocted  by  man.  The  hand  which  struck 
down  silver  is  the  hand  which  will  strike  us  all  down  in 
time,  the  hand  which  nothing  can  withstand,  the  irresistible 
hand  of  Nature.  Silver  has  been  struck  down  by  the 
natural  forces,  by  the  great  law  of  supply  and  demand.  The 
yearly  average  of  gold  production  in  the  twenty-five  years 
from  1851  to  1875  was  $127,000,000.  The  yearly  average 
product  of  silver  for  the  same  period  was  $51,000.000.  The 
average  annual  product  of  gold  for  the  fifteen  years  from 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  241 

1876  to  1890  declined  to  $108,000,000,  a  falling  off  of  15 
per  cent.  The  average  annual  product  of  silver  for  the 
same  period  increased  to  $i  16,000,000,  an  increase  of  127 
per  cent.  There  is  the  whole  silver  question,  and  in  the 
face  of  these  facts,  it  is  now  impossible  for  the  United  States, 
single  handed,  with  free  and  unlimited  coinage,  to  bring  sil- 
ver to  a  parity  with  gold  on  any  such  basis  as  1 6  to  I ;  it  is 
more  impossible  than  for  a  thousand  men  to  pick  up  our 
great '  Pike's  Peak  '  and  transport  it  bodily  to  Denver." 

ACTS    RELATING   TO   THE   TRADE    DOLLAR. 

By  the  Act  of  July  22,  1876,  it  was  provided  that  "the 
trade  dollar  shall  not  hereafter  be  a  legal  tender,"  and  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  authorized  to  limit  the  coin- 
age thereof  "  to  such  an  amount  as  he  may  deem  sufficient 
to  meet  the  export  demand  for  the  same."  By  this  Act  the 
silver  dollar  was  entirely  eliminated  from  the  list  of  United 
States  coins.  Subsequently  an  Act  was  passed  authorizing 
the  redemption  of  the  outstanding  trade  dollars  at  par,  and 
directing  their  recoinage  into  standard  dollars.  Before  the 
passage  of  this  Act,  however,  considerable  loss  was  sustained 
by  the  people  through  the  destruction  of  the  trade  dollar  as 
lawful  money.  Trade  dollars  to  the  number  of  35,965,924 
were  issued  from  the  mints,  a  large  proportion  of  which  was 
sent  to  China  and  never  returned  for  redemption. 

EXTENT   OF   COINAGE    UNDER   ACTS   TO    1878. 

From  the  establishment  of  the  mint  in  1792,  to  1806,  the 
aggregate  number  of  silver  dollars  coined  was  only  1,439,417, 
and  from  1806  to  1835  there  was  no  coinage  whatever  of 
this  piece.  In  1836  the  number  of  dollar  pieces  coined  was 
only  1,000.  The  two  years  following  coinage  of  dollars  was 
suspended,  but  was  resumed  in  1839,  when  300  were  issued, 


242  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

and  the  coinage  was  continued  until  1873,  when  the  standard 
silver  dollar  was  supplanted  by  the  trade  dollar.  The  largest 
annual  coinage  of  standard  silver  dollars  was  made  in  the 
years  1871  and  1872,  when  it  was  $  1,117,  r3^  and  $1,118,600 
respectively,  which  is  equal  to  nearly  two-fifths  of  the  aggre- 
gate of  standard  silver  dollars  coined  from  1792  to  1873, 
which  aggregate  was  7,830,538.  The  number  coined  in 
January  and  February,  1873,  was  296,000,  which  are  in- 
cluded in  the  above  aggregate.  The  "  Demonetization  Act " 
was  passed  February  12,  1873.  It  will  be  seen,  therefore, 
that  standard  silver  dollars  were  coined  down  to  the  passage 
of  the  Act  which  substituted  the  trade  dollar. 

COINAGE   ACT   OF    1878. 

Remembering  now  that  for  seventeen  years  prior  to  1879 
• — the  date  of  resumption — neither  gold  nor  silver  coins 
were  in  circulation  in  the  United  States,  and  that  by  1876 
silver  had  fallen  to  $1.15  per  ounce,  we  are  prepared  for  the 
era  of  agitation  which  began  with  the  introduction  of  free 
silver  coinage  bills  into  Congress.  More  than  one  of  these 
was  introduced  into  the  House,  but  that  particular  one  which 
was  prepared  and  championed  by  Mr.  Bland,  of  Missouri, 
passed  the  House  in  the  fall  of  1877.  It  became  known  as 
the  "  Bland  Bill,"  and  the  coinage  of  silver  that  followed  in 
its  wake  became  known  as  the  "  Bland  Dollars." 

What  was  really  the  "  Bland  Bill,"  that  is,  the  bill  passed 
by  the  House  and  sent  to  the  Senate,  never  became  a  law. 
The  bill  provided  for  the  coinage  of  "  silver  dollars  of  the 
weight  of  412^2  grains  Troy,  of  standard  silver,  as  provided 
in  the  Act  of  January  18,  1837."  .  .  .  "Which  coins, 
together  with  all  silver  dollars  heretofore  coined  by  the 
United  States  of  equal  weight  and  fineness,  shall  be  a  legal 
tender,  at  their  nominal  value,  for  all  debts  and  dues,  public 


HON.  WILLIAM  H.  H.  MILLER, 

Born  in  Augusta,  N.  Y.,  September  6,  1840;  taught  school  and 
graduated  from  Hamilton  College,  1861 ;  taught  at  Maumee,  Ohio,  one 
year;  entered  Union  army  as  Lieutenant  in  84th  Regiment,  Ohio  Vol- 
unteers; read  law  and  began  practice  at  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  1866;  moved 
to  Indianapolis  (1874)  and  formed  law  partnership  with  General  Benj. 
Harrison  ;  appointed  Attorney  General  by  President  Harrison,  March 
5,  1889;  a  profound  constitutional  lawyer,  an  able  and  conscientious 
official  ;  was  sustained  by  Supreme  Court  in  his  heroic  action  in  celebrated 
Field-Terry  case  ;  distinguished  for  ability  and  discretion  in  handling 
Behring  Sea  disputes  ;  conducted  the  Anti-Lottery  case  successfully  and 
secured  favorable  opinion  of  Supreme  Court ;  secured  verdict  of  highest 
court  in  case  involving  constitutionality  of  McKinley  Act;  administra- 
tion noted  for  success  in  dealing  with  numerous  intricate  and  far-reach- 
ing questions;  name  mentioned  in  connection  with  U.  S.  Supreme  bench. 

(244) 


THE  SlkVEk  QUESTION.  245 

and  private,  except  where  otherwise  provided  by  contract. 
And,  any  owner  of  silver  bullion  may  deposit  the  same  at 
any  United  States  coinage  mint  or  assay  office,  to  be  coined 
into  such  dollars  for  his  benefit,  upon  the  same  terms  and 
conditions  as  gold  bullion  is  deposited  for  coinage  under  ex- 
isting laws." 

The  above  is  the  "  Bland  Bill  "  as  to  its  vital  points  and 
as  it  passed  the  House  and  appeared  in  the  Senate.  It  gave 
free  coinage  (that  is,  the  same  coinage  as  was  given  to  gold) 
to  any  owner  of  silver  bullion  who  presented  it  at  the  mint. 
It  gave  unlimited  coinage  of.  silver  dollars  for  all  silver  bul- 
lion presented  to  be  coined.  It  made  coinage  compulsory. 
At  the  ratio  existing  between  silver  and  gold,  it  was  prac- 
tical mono-metallism,  with  silver  as  the  standard  and  gold  at 
a  premium,  for  the  cheaper  metal,  when  coined,  invariably 
takes  the  volume  of  circulation  and  expels  the  dearer. 

The  entire  character  of  this  bill  was  changed  in  the  Senate 
by  the  Allison  amendment  and  became  known  as  the  Bland- 
Allison  Bill.  It  was  then  passed  by  both  Houses  and  be- 
came the  Bland-Allison  Act.  As  passed,  it  involved  the 
principle  of  bi-metallism,  for  it  limited  the  coinage  of  the 
cheaper  metal,  silver,  and  undertook  to  maintain  it  at  par 
with  gold  by  providing  for  its  redemption. 

This  Act  of  February  28th,  1878,  restored  the  silver 
dollar  of  412^  grains  to  the  coinage  with  full  legal  tender 
power,  but  did  not  restore  silver  bullion  to  the  minting 
privilege  which  attached  to  it  prior  to  1873,  and  which  was 
in  every  respect  equal  to  that  bestowed  upon  gold.  This 
Act  re-established  the  "  dollar  of  the  fathers,"  made  it  legal 
tender  for  all  debts,  "  except  when  otherwise  expressly 
stipulated  in  the  contract,"  and  directed  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  to  purchase  silver  bullion  monthly  "  at  the  market 
price  thereof,  not  less  than  two  million  dollars'  worth  per 


246  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

month  nor  more  than  four  million  dollars'  worth  per  month, 
and  cause  the  same  to  be  coined  monthly,  as  fast  as  so  pur- 
chased, into  such  dollars."  The  third  section  provided  that 
holders  of  silver  dollars  "  may  deposit  the  same  with  the 
Treasurer  or  any  Assistant  Treasurer  of  the  United  States, 
in  sums  not  less  than  ten  dollars,  and  receive  therefor  cer- 
tificates of  not  less  than  ten  dollars  each." 

It  also  provided  as  follows : — 

"  That  immediately  after  the  passage  of  this  Act  the  Presi- 
dent shall  invite  the  governments  of  the  countries  compos- 
ing the  Latin  Union,  so  called,  and  of  such  other  European 
nations  as  he  may  deem  advisable,  to  join  the  United  States 
in  a  conference  to  adopt  a  common  ratio  between  gold  and 
silver,  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  internationally  the  use 
of  bimetallic  money  and  securing  fixity  of  relative  value 
between  those  metals." 

This  bill  represented  the  same  order  of  thought  that  per- 
vades the  silver  agitation  of  the  year  1892.  Those  who 
favored  the  "Greenback"  inflation  scheme  were  its  ardent 
supporters.  Representatives  from  the  Silver-producing 
States  were  strongly  in  its  favor,  in  the  belief  that  it  would 
enhance  the  value  of  their  product.  While  it  made  the 
coinage  of  silver  dollars  compulsory  to  the  extent  of 
$2,000,000  a  month,  it  placed  a  limit  at  $4,000,000.  It  was 
thought  that  this  much  circulation  in  silver  dollars  could  be 
kept  at  par  with  gold,  but  it  was  soon  found  that  the  silver 
dollars  would  not  circulate.  Out  of  the  12,136  tons  of 
silver  purchased  by  the  Government  under  the  Act  at  a 
cost  of  $308,199,262,  and  out  of  the  378,166,793  silver 
dollars  coined  therefrom  under  the  Act,  at  an  expense  of 
$5,OOO,OOO,  not  more  than  one  out  of  eight  found  its  way 
into  circulation.  For  all  the  benefit  to  the  circulation 
derived  from  the  Act,  the  Government  might  as  well  have 


?HE  SILVER.  QUESTION.  247 

saved  itself  the  $5,000,000  expense  of  coinage,  and  bought 
and  stored  the  silver  in  bullion  shape.  The  bullion  was 
always  worth  more  than  the  coined  dollars,  and  could  have 
been  more  safely  and  cheaply  cared  for  in  the  Treasury 
vaults  than  its  equivalent  in  coins.  There  was  no  expansion 
of  the  currency,  as  the  ardent  advocates  of  the  bill  fondly 
hoped.  Nor  was  there  an  increase  in  the  price  of  silver 
bullion,  for  it  declined  from  $1.12  an  ounce  in  1879,  to  93 ^j 
cents  an  ounce  in  1889,  or  in  other  words  it  declined  to  a 
point  where  it  stood  to  gold  as  22  to  I  per  ounce  value,  and 
the  value. of  silver  in  a  silver  dollar  was  only  72  cents. 

The  silver  certificate  feature  of  the  Act  proved  of  little 
practical  value,  and  in  the  main  the  Act  negatived  its  own 
provisions  and  bred  causes  for  its  repeal. 

COINAGE  ACT   OF    1890. 

But  the  Bland-Allison  Act  of  1878  was  not  without  its 
uses.  It  satisfied  neither  its  advocates  nor  its  opponents, 
and  increased  rather  than  decreased  the  silver  agitation.  It 
led  directly  to  and  perhaps  hastened  the  passage  of  the 
Coinage  Act  of  July  14,  1890. 

The  bill  which  became  the  basis  of  this  Act  was  prepared 
on  a  plan  which  embraced  the  views  of  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  Windom.  It  was  submitted  to  the  House,  and 
passed.  Its  provisions  were  that  any  owner  of  silver  bul- 
lion, not  foreign,  could  bring  it  to  any  mint  and  obtain  for 
it  legal  tender  treasury  notes  equal  in  value  to  the  then 
market  value  of  the  silver,  which  notes  were  redeemable 
either  in  gold  or  silver  bullion,  at  its  then  market  value,  at 
the  option  of  the  government,  or  in  silver  dollars  at  the 
holder's  option. 

This  bill  was  amended  in  the  Senate  by  inserting  a  clause 
providing  for  free  and  unlimited  coinage.  It  then  went  to 


248  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

a  conference  committee,  where  it  took  the  form  in  which  it 
was  passed  finally  and  became  a  law,  July  14,  1890. 

As  passed,  it  directed  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to 
purchase  4,500,000  ounces  of  silver  bullion  each  month  at 
the  market  price  thereof,  not  exceeding  $i  for  every  371^ 
grains  of  pure  silver,  and  to  issue  in  payment  for  such  pur- 
chase Treasury  Notes  of  the  United  States. 

Those  Treasury  Notes  are  made  redeemable  in  coin,  gold 
or  silver  at  the  discretion  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
and  have  full  legal  tender  value.  Following  this  clause  is 
one  which  reads  "  It  being  the  established  poKcy  of  the 
United  States  to  maintain  the  two  metals  on  a  parity  with 
each  other  upon  the  present  legal  ratio,  or  such  ratio  as 
may  be  provided  by  law." 

The  Act  also  provided  for  the  actual  coinage  of  2,000,000 
silver  dollars  a  month  up  until  July  I,  1891. 

By  comparing  the  two  Acts  of  1878  and  1890,  a  better 
view  of  the  silver  controversy  may  be  had.  The  Act 
of  1878  made  it  compulsory  on  the  Government  to  buy 
silver  bullion  to  the  value  of  $2,000,000  and  not  exceeding 
$4,000,000  monthly,  and  to  coin  the  same  into  silver  dollars. 
This  was  a  drain  on  the  Treasury  of  at  least  $24,000,000  a 
year.  Holders  of  silver  dollars  could  exchange  them  at  the 
Treasury,  in  sums  of  ten  dollars,  for  Silver  Certificates,  the 
coin  remaining  in  the  Treasury  for  the  payment  of  the  Cer- 
tificate on  demand.  These  Certificates  were  not  given  full 
legal  tender  value,  except  for  payment  of  customs  and  all 
public  dues.  This  approval  of  them  by  the  Government 
confirmed  them  in  popular  estimation,  and  they  were  as 
freely  accepted  by  the  people  as  if  they  had  been  a  full  legal 
tender. 

The  Act  of  1 890  made  compulsory  on  the  Treasury  the  pur- 
chase of  4,500,000  ounces  of  silver  per  month,  or  54,000,000 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  249 

ounces  a  year.  But  instead  of  paying  cash  for  it,  payment 
was  to  be  made  in  Certificates,  called  Treasury  notes, 
especially  issued,  redeemable  in  gold  or  silver  coin,  and 
clothed  with  full  legal  tender  power. 

It  will  be  seen  that  payment  for  the  bullion,  under  the 
Act  of  1878,  was  in  cash;  while  payment  for  the  bullion 
under  the  Act  of  1890  was  by  Certificate,  or  Treasury  note. 

There  was  no  compulsory  coinage  of  the  bullion  under 
the  Act  of  1 890,  except  at  the  rate  of  $2,000,000  a  month 
up  till  July  I,  1891.  Since  that  date  no  silver  dollars  have 
been  coined,  but  the  bullion  purchased  is  held  in  the  form 
of  fine  silver  bars.  Under  the  Act,  $28,298,455  were  coined, 
and  up  to  April  I,  1891,  $89,602,198  in  Treasury  notes,  to 
pay  for  bullion  deposited,  had  been  issued,  $77,605,000  of 
which  were  in  circulation.  At  the  same  date  the  value  of 
silver  bars  held  by  the  Treasury  was  $65,720,000. 

On  November  I,  1891,  the  total  of  silver  dollars  coined 
and  in  existence  in  the  United  States,  under  all  the  Acts, 
was  $409,475,368,  of  which  $347,339,907  were  in  the 
Treasury,  and  only  $62,135,461  outside  of  the  Treasury,  or 
in  circulation. 

Against  this  $323,668,401  silver  certificates  had  been 
issued,  $321,142,642  of  which  were  outside  of  the  Treasury 
and  $2,525,759  inside.  At  the  same  date  the  stock  of  silver 
bullion  in  the  Treasury  was  $33,094,234. 

The  54,000,000  ounces  of  silver  which  the  Government  is 
required  to  buy  yearly,  and  to  issue  Treasury  notes  therefor, 
was  the  exact  output  of  the  silver  mines  in  the  United  States 
in  1890.  A  prime  object  of  the  law  was,  therefore,  to 
furnish  a  sure  market  for  the  product  of  our  mines,  at  the 
prevailing  price  of  silver  bullion  when  presented  at  the 
Treasury.  The  Act  was  a  compromise  Act,  and  both  mine- 
owners  and  advocates  of  "  free  and  unlimited  coinage  "  ac- 


350  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

cepted  the  compromise,  as  the  best  that  could  be  done  to 
secure  a  certain  home  market  for  their  product,  and  at  the 
same  time  increase  the  circulating  medium  of  the  country 
by  just  the  number  of  Treasury  notes  required  to  purchase 
54,000,000  ounces  of  silver. 

Experience  has  shown  that  the  Act  really  authorizes  the 
purchase  of  more  than  the  silver  product  of  American  mines, 
available  for  coinage  purposes,  since  some  three  to  five 
million  ounces  of  said  product  are  annually  used  up  in  the 
arts. 

It  was  a  general  belief,  at  the  time  of  the  passage  of  the 
Act  of  1890,  that  its  effect  would  be  to  increase  the  market 
price  of  silver.  Indeed  this  was  confidently  prophesied  by 
mine-owners  and  free-silver-coinage  advocates.  In  anticipa- 
tion of  such  rise,  silver  speculators  entered  the  market  and 
drove  silver  bullion  up  to  $1.05  an  ounce  in  April,  1890; 
to  $1.08  in  May;  to  $1.15  in  August;  to  $1.21  in  Septem- 
ber. But  now  the  natural  law  of  supply  and  demand  began 
to  operate  against  them.  They  had  to  contend  with  the 
world's  market  and  the  world's  prices,  and  no  longer  with  a 
home  market  and  home  prices.  The  inevitable  consequence 
was  that  the  price  of  silver  broke.  The  country  that  could 
sustain  a  certain  amount  of  silver  coin,  as  a  circulating 
medium,  at  par  with  gold,  could  not  sustain  the  market 
value  of  silver  bullion  at  a  point  above  where  the  laws  of 
supply  and  demand,  as  established  by  the  world  at  large, 
chose  to  fix  it. 

In  October,  1890,  silver  fell  to  $1.09  per  ounce;  in  De- 
cember to  $1.06.  The  decline  has  been  gradual  ever 
since.  In  December,  1891,  silver  was  worth  94  ^  cents  an 
ounce,  and  the  fine  silver  in  a  dollar  was  worth  only  73 
cents.  On  May  23,  1892,  silver  sold  for  88^  cents  per 
ounce.  Therefore,  even  with  so  excellent  a  customer  as  the 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION:  551 

Government,  and  one  ready  to  take  the  entire  output  of  the 
silver  mines  of  the  country,  the  market  price  of  the  product 
declined.  The  law  of  the  world  proved  mightier  than  the 
law  of  the  United  States. 

THE    BLAND    FREE    COINAGE    BILL PROPOSED    ACT    OF     1892. 

Failure  of  silver  producers  to  realize  their  expectations 
under  the  Act  of  1890,  a  growing  desire  to  relieve  depressed 
industrial  and  trade  conditions,  especially  in  the  West  and 
South,  and  the  fact  that  political  conventions  in  a  great 
many  States  had  given  the  silver  question  a  party  turn, 
rendered  the  opening  of  the  Fifty-second  Congress  an  op- 
portune time  to  seek  new  coinage  legislation.  In  the 
Democratic  Conventions  the  planks  favored  the  "  free  and 
unlimited  coinage  of  silver : "  in  the  Republican  Conven- 
tions they  favored  the  "  maintainance  of  silver  on  a  parity 
with  gold." 

The  Congress  opened  with  an  overwhelming  Democratic 
majority,  and  Mr.  Bland,  of  Missouri,  became  the  recognized 
leader  of  his  party  on  the  silver  question.  He  introduced 
into  the  House  what  became  known  as  the  "  Bland  Free 
Silver  Coinage  Bill,"  and  advocated  it  with  his  well-known 
ability.  It  drew  around  it  the  advocates  of  "  free  and  un- 
limited coinage  "  and  became  the  subject  of  animated  and 
prolonged  debate.  When  ripe  for  passage  Mr.  Bland  de- 
manded the  previous  question,  which  failed  by  the  very  re- 
markable vote  of  148  yeas  to  148  nays  ;  there  being  enough 
of  Eastern  Democrats  voting  with  the  Republicans  to  cause 
this  disappointing  result  to  the  friends  of  the  measure. 

As  this  vote  by  no  means  disposed  of  the  measure  finally 
in  the  House,  or  if  so,  as  the  question  must  be  a  leading  one 
in  the  National  campaign  of  1892,  it  is  well  to  understand 
the  provisions  of  the  bill. 


252  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

It  provides  that  the  unit  of  value  shall  be  the  standard 
silver  dollar  as  now  coined,  of  412^  grains  standard  silver,  or 
the  gold  dollar  of  25.8  grains  standard  gold. 

That  the  standard  gold  and  silver  coins  shall  be  full  legal 
tender. 

That  any  holder  of  standard  gold  or  silver  bullion  shall 
be  entitled  to  have  the  same  minted  into  coins  free  of 
charge,  or  may  deposit  said  bullion  at  the  mints  and  receive 
coin  notes  therefor,  equal  in  value  to  the  coinage  value  of 
the  bullion  deposited,  the  bullion  thereupon  to  become  the 
property  of  the  government. 

That  the  coin  notes  shall  not  be  less  than  one  nor  over 
one  thousand  dollars  in  value  and  shall  be  a  legal  tender. 

That  issue  of  the  Treasury  notes  in  pay  for  bullion,  pro- 
vided for  in  the  Act  of  1890,  shall  be  discontinued,  and  all 
such  as  are  outstanding  shall  be  called  in  and  destroyed  and 
coin  notes  shall  be  substituted  for  them. 

That  the  issue  of  coin  notes  shall  never  be  greater  than 
the  coinage  value  of  the  bullion  in  the  Treasury. 

That  said  coin  notes  shall  be  redeemed  in  coin  at  the 
Treasury,  and  the  bullion  deposited  shall  be  coined  as  fast 
as  said  coins  are  needed  for  such  purposes  of  redemption. 

That  any  holder  of  gold  or  silver  coins  may  deposit  the 
same,  in  sums  of  ten  dollars,  and  demand  coin  notes 
therefor. 

That  the  Act  of  1 890  is  repealed ;  and  that  the  silver 
dollar  of  412^  grains  may  change  to  one  of  400  grains  as 
soon  as  France  reopens  her  mints  to  free  and  unrestricted 
coinage  of  silver  at  the  ratio  of  l$%  of  silver  to  I  of  gold. 

Under  the  Act  of  1890  the  government  must  purchase 
54,000,000  ounces  of  silver  per  annum,  for  which  it  pays  the 
market  price. 

Under  the  proposed  Act  of  1892  the  owner  of  gold  or 


HON.  RICHARD  P.   BLAND. 

Born  near  Hartford,  Ky.,  August  19,  1835 ;  academically  educated ; 
moved  to  Missouri,  1855;  thence  to  California  and  Virginia  city,  Nev. ; 
practiced  law  and  engaged  in  mining  ;  County  Treasurer  of  Carson  co. ; 
back  to  Missouri,  1865 ;  practiced  law  at  Rolla  and  Lebanon ;  elected, 
as  a  Democrat,  to  represent  Eleventh  Missouri  District  in  43d,  44th,  45th, 
46th,  47th,  48th,  49th,  50th,  51st  and  52d  Congresses;  rose  to  distinction 
as  author  of  Bland  Silver  Bill,  which  became  a  law,  with  the  Allison 
amendment,  in  1878 ;  Father  of  the  Free  Silver  Coinage  Bill  in  52d 
Congress  ;  Chairman  of  Committee  on  Coinage,  Weights  and  Measures ; 
an  able  advocate  of  Tariff  Reform  and  Free  Coinage  of  Silver. 

(253) 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  255 

silver  bullion  may  deposit  his  bullion  at  the  mint,  demand 
its  mintage  free,  or  demand  coin  notes  for  it  at  the  mint  value 
of  the  bullion. 

In  the  former  case  the  owner  of  bullion  got  pay  for  bul- 
lion at  its  price  on  the  day  he  deposited  it.  In  the  latter 
case  he  can  get  pay  at  the  mint  value  of  the  bullion, 
that  is,  for  every  ounce  of  silver  bullion  deposited  that  has 
cost  him  95  cents,  he  can  get  $1.29  in  coin.  The  oppo- 
nents of  free  coinage  put  it  this  way  : — The  mine  owners 
turned  in  their  product  of  54,000,000  ounces  last  year  at  a 
value  of  $53,796,833,  for  which  they  received  Treasury  notes 
to  that  amount.  Under  the  proposed  Bland  Act  they  could 
demand  the  mint  value  for  their  54,000,000  ounces.  The 
mint  value  would  be  $71,000,000.  Therefore,  they  receive 
nearly  30  per  cent,  in  excess  of  the  market  value  of  their 
silver.  But  the  advocates  of  free  coinage  say  that  the  dis- 
crimination of  existing  laws  against  silver  makes  the  dispar- 
ity between  it  and  gold,  and  that  the  removal  of  such  dis- 
crimination would  make  the  bullion  value  of  silver  and  the 
price  of  it  with  the  government  stamp  on  it  the  same.  They 
say  that  whenever  the  mints  are  open  to  the  free  coinage  of 
silver,  and  whenever  the  owner  of  such  silver  can  have  it 
exchanged  at  the  rate  of  100  cents  for  37  ij^  grains,  silver 
will  be  worth  as  much  without  as  with  the  government 
stamp.  Their  opponents  say  they  quite  lose  sight  of  the 
fact  that  the  moment  these  371^  grains  of  silver  which  are 
worth  in  the  markets  of  the  world,  say  80  cents,  becomes 
worth  100  cents  by  sheer  virtue  of  the  stamp  upon  it,  all  the 
world  will  pour  its  surplus  silver  into  our  mints  and  com- 
pletely swamp  our  metal  currency.  Gold  would  flee  and 
there  would  be  no  means  of  sustaining  silver  money  at 
par.  They  also  say  that  as  the  country  is  at  present  situated 
with  barely  enough  of  gold  to  sustain  our  present  silver  cir- 


256  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

culation,  the  moment  free  coinage  of  silver  were  adopted  it 
would  be  accepted  by  the  Treasury  and  by  the  banks,  as 
notice  to  suspend  gold  payments.  Unless  such  suspension 
were  resorted  to  it  would  be  no  time  before  the  gold  reserve 
would  be  exhausted  and  catastrophe  ensue. 

The  arguments  in  favor  of  free  and  unrestricted  coinage 
of  silver  gain  great  plausibility  when  they  are  turned  to  the 
account  of  the  debtor  classes — to  farmers  with  mortgages  on 
their  farms  and  to  others  similarly  encumbered.  As  seen 
just  above,  they  could  take  advantage  of  the  30  per  cent, 
between  the  market  and  mint  value  of  the  dollar  and  thus 
pay  their  debts  at  less  than  they  contracted  to  pay.  The 
opponents  of  free  silver  coinage  say  it  would  be  better  for 
the  government  to  extend  this  difference  to  these  debtors  as 
a  charity,  rather  than  run  the  risk  of  a  dishonored  currency 
and  of  the  panics,  disturbances  and  immense  losses  which 
would  surely  follow. 

Again  the  free  silver  coinage  men  say  they  are  certain 
that  their  doctrine  in  practice  will  make  the  silver  dollar 
fully  equal  to  the  gold  dollar.  If  this  be  so,  say  their  oppo- 
nents, then  a  silver  dollar  will  be  as  hard  to  get  as  the  gold 
dollar  and  the  debtor  will  be  no  better  off  than  at  present. 
But  granting  every  advantage  claimed  by  the  free  coinage 
men  for  the  debtor  classes,  how  about  the  creditor  classes  ? 
They  are  by  far  the  most  numerous  class.  Every  laborer 
is  a  creditor  when  his  day's  work  is  done,  every  pensioner 
of  the  government,  every  saving  institution,  etc.  If  the 
cheaper  dollar  scales  the  mortgage  for  the  debtor  and  en- 
ables him  to  pay  it  easier — a  matter  the  mortgagee  might 
stand — would  not  the  cheaper  dollar  scale  the  debt  due  at 
night  to  the  miner,  the  servant,  the  artisan,  the  day  laborer  ? 

No,  says  the  free  coinage  man,  for  the  dollar  would  still 
be  a  dollar.  But  says  his  opponent,  it  being  a  dollar  whose 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  257 

intrinsic  value  is  only  80  or  90  cents,  and  being  plenty, 
prices  must  rise,  and  the  miner's  $3.50  per  day  can  only  be 
exchanged  for  commodities  which  formerly  cost  him  a  dollar 
less. 

But  as  most  of  the  infallible  laws  which  underlie  the  ques- 
tions of  currency  have  already  been  stated  in  this  article,  we 
leave  the  theories  which  now  constitute  so  large  a  part  of 
the  discussion  of  the  silver  question  to  the  reader,  to  indulge 
as  he  chooses.  It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  other  coun- 
tries have  done  with  their  silver  just  what  is  proposed  to 
be  done  here,  and  that  they — notably  the  Latin  Union — 
had  to  give  up  in  despair  their  efforts  to  sustain  silver  coin- 
age at  par  with  gold,  in  quantities  beyond  the  ordinary  needs 
of  trade.  Our  reserve  of  gold  will  always  float  a  fair  quan- 
tity of  silver,  but  to  give  to  silver  free  and  unlimited  coinage 
is  to  place,  gold  at  its  mercy,  if  the  experience  of  other  na- 
tions is  worth  anything. 

This  might  not  be  so  if  other  countries  were  on  a  silver 
basis,  or  even  if  silver  constituted  a  larger  per  cent,  of  their 
currency.  It  is  with  a  view  to  an  agreement  upon  the  place 
which  silver  shall,  or  ought  to,  hold,  in  an  international 
sense,  that  the  United  States  has  requested  a  conference  of 
the  nations  of  Europe,  which  conference  will  be  one  of  the 
events  of  1892  and  its  results  will  go  far  toward  simplifying 
the  silver  question  in  this  country. 

SILVER   STATEMENT. 

From  United  States  Mint  Report  for  1891. 

Silver  received  at  Mints,  1891 $71.985,985 

Silver  dollars  coined,  1891 36,232,802 

Silver  dollars  distributed  from  Mints,  1891            .         .  13,208,794 

Silver  dollars  in  Mints,  July  i,  1891              .         .         .  101,290,755 

Total  coinage  of  silver  dollars  since  1886    .        .        .  409,475,368 


258  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

Silver  dollars  held  in  Treasury  for  redemption  of  silver 

certificates 321,142,642 

Outstanding  silver  certificates 294,945,377 

Excess  of  held  coin  over  certificates     ....  26,197,265 

Silver  dollars  in  circulation          .....  62,135,461 

HOW   TO    FIGURE   SILVER    DOLLAR   VALUES. 

Silver  bullion  could  be  bought  May  23,  1892,  for  88  cents 
per  ounce  of  480  grains. 

Divide  480  into  88  and  you  have  .01833  cents,  or  a  little 
over  1.8  cents,  as  the  price  of  a  grain  of  silver. 

371  of  these  grains  make  a  silver  dollar — really  3/1^. 

Therefore,  371  multiplied  by  .01833  =  68  cents,  the  cost 
of  the  silver  in  a  silver  dollar. 

Now  if  a  man  gets  a  dollar,  or  IOO  cents,  for  what  cost 
him  68  cents,  how  much  would  he  get  for  that  ounce  of 
silver  bullion  which  he  deposited  and  which  cost  him  88 
cents  ? 

It  would  stand  as  68  cents  is  to  100  cents,  so  is  88  cents 
to  the  answer. 

Answer  : — $1.294  per  ounce  for  his  silver  bullion. 


HON.  MATTHEW  S.  QUAY. 

Born  at  Dillsburg,  York  co.,  Pa.,  September  30,  1833 ;  graduated  at 
Jefferson  College,  1850;  admitted  to  bar,  1854  ;  elected  Prothonotary  of 
Beaver  Co.,  1856  and  1859 ;  served  in  Union  army  as  Colonel  of  134tl> 
Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  and  as  Military  State  Agent  at  Washington, 
Assistant  Commissary-General  and  Chief  of  Transportation ;  Military 
Secretary  to  Governor  of  Penns>  Ivania,  1861-65 ;  member  of  Legisla- 
ture, 1865-67 ;  Secretary  of  Commonwealth,  1872-78 ;  Chairman  of 
Republican  State  Committee,  1878-79;  Secretary  of  Commonwealth, 
187i>-  82 ;  elected  State  Treasurer,  1885  ;  elected  United  States  Senator, 
as  Republican,  1886 ;  Chairman  of  Republican  National  Committee  dur- 
ing campaign  of  1888 ;  Chairman  of  Committee  on  Library  and  member 
»f  Committees  on  Commerce  and  Public  Buildings  and  Grounds. 

(259) 


RECIPROCITY    IN    AMERICA.  — AN    HISTORIC 
REVIEW. 

GENERAL    VIEW. 

THE  idea,  or  rather  the  doctrine,  of  reciprocal  trade  is  by 
no  means  new.  As  a  principle  it  has  been  long  recognized 
in  this  country.  In  England  it  is  what  is  called  "  Fair 
Trade,"  and  is  upheld  by  a  school  of  economists  and  states- 
men who  oppose  "  Free  Trade,"  or  seek  to  escape  from  the 
effects  of "  Free  Trade,"  by  a  system  which  shall  not  be 
one-sided  only. 

The  doctrine,  pure  and  simple,  is  this,  if  a  nation  does 
not  impose  duties  on  our  goods  entering  its  ports,  we  will 
not  impose  duties  on  its  goods  entering  our  ports ;  and  if 
a  nation  levies  duties  on  our  goods,  we  will  levy  duty  on 
its  goods. 

This,  say  fair-traders,  is  but  the  doctrine  of  lex  talionis, 
tit-forrtat,  as  applied  to  trade.  This,  say  free-traders,  is  the 
folly  of  imposing  a  double  loss  on  ourselves.  Thus,  foreign- 
ers tax  our  products  when  they  enter  their  ports.  This 
imposes  a  loss  on  us.  Then,  in  turn,  we  tax  their  products 
when  entering  our  ports.  This  imposes  a  second  loss  on  us. 
They  say,  that  for  an  injury  done  us  by  others,  we  fine  our- 
selves. When  others  impoverish  us,  we  respond  by  a  system 
of  impoverishment. 

Protectionists  eschew  theories  and  refinements,  and  say 
that  each  country  is  a  law  unto  itself  respecting  trade.  All 
prosperous  countries  have  been  built  on  this  principle.  All 
recognize  it  in  one  way  or  another,  whatever  their  outward 
professions,  or  present  economic  leanings.  It  is  but  the 
12  261 


262  RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

duty  of  caring  for  one's  self.     It  is  but  the  right  to  live, 
and  to  enjoy  advantages,  if  such  exist. 

COMMERCIAL   TREATIES. 

Reciprocity 'has  for  agss  been  established  and  determined 
between  nations  by  means  of  commercial  treaties.  The 
usual  process  has  been  -for  two  nations,  about  to  treat,  to 
consult  their  respective  tariff  lists,  and  to  grant  reductions 
of  duties  on  the  class  of  goods  which  they  desire  most  to 
receive  from  each  other.  Equally,  each  country  seeks  to 
secure  the  lowest  rate  of  duty  on  the  class  of  goods  whose 
manufacture  constitutes  its  own  industry,  and  whose  sale 
abroad  it  wishes  to  cultivate.  Thus,  England  makes  the 
best  bargain  she  can  for  the  foreign  sale  of  her  hardware  and 
cottons,  France  for  her  silks  and  wines,  Belgium  for  her 
iron  products,  the  United  States  for  her  flour  and  meat. 
The  free-trade  countries  of  the  world  are  the  most  prolific 
of  reciprocity  treaties,  yet  there  never  was  a  reciprocity 
treaty  that  did  not  recognize  the  doctrine  of  protection,  else 
it  would  have  been  of  no  use.  The  essence  of  all  com- 
mercial treaties  is  home-trade  advantage,  home-industry 
advantage,  home-development  advantage,  whether  directly 
by  encouragement  to  labor  and  capital  on  the  spot,  or  in- 
directly by  reason  of  enlarged  markets  abroad. 

Says  Leveleye,  one  of  the  ablest  of  French  Political 
Economists,  and  a  pronounced  free-trader : — "  Commercial 
treaties  are  useful  in  assuring  to  industry  what  is  so  essential 
to  it,  the  fixity  of  foreign  customs  dues  throughout  the  period 
embraced  by  the  treaty.  Nowadays  commercial  treaties  are  of 
more  importance  than  political  treaties,  for  it  is  on  com- 
meroial  treaties  that  the  progress  of  industry  in  each  country 
in  a  great  measure  depends,  and  alsp  what  is  no  less  inv 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  263 

portant,  the  development  of  commercial  relations  and  com- 
munity of  interest  between  different  lands." 

"  MOST  FAVORED  NATION  "  CLAUSE. 

Very  often  the  parties  to  commercial  treaties  stipulate  that 
each  of  them  shall  enjoy  all  the  advantages  that  may  come 
to,  or  be  secured  by,  the  other  through  a  reduction  of  duties 
between  it  and  still  other  countries.  This  has  come  to  be 
known  in  diplomacy  as  "  the  most  favored  nation  clause"  a 
term  which  grows  more  familiar  each  year.  It  stands  thus: 
— England  agrees  to  abolish,  or  reduce  to  a  minimum,  her 
duties  on  French  silks,  as  a  concession  to  France  for  so  re- 
ducing, or  abolishing,  her  duties  on  English  cottons.  But 
at  the  same  time  England  says  to  France,  and  it  is  agreed, 
that  if  you  succeed  in  getting  similar  terms  with  any  other 
country  by  reason  of  a  desire  for  your  silks,  we  expect  our 
cottons  to  follow  in  the  wake  of  your  silks.  The  favors 
your  silks  secure  for  you  must  extend  to  our  cottons.  So 
France  says  to  England,  and  it  is  agreed,  that  if  you  succeed 
in  getting  similar  terms  with  any  other  country  by  reason 
of  a  desire  for  your  cottons,  we  expect  our  silks  to  follow 
in  the  wake  of  your  cottons.  The  favors  your  cottons 
secure  for  you  must  extend  to  our  silks.  Thus  "  the  most 
favored  nation  clause  "  may  suffice  to  carry  the  favorite  pro- 
duct of  a  highly  industrial  and  ingenious  nation,  with  com- 
mercial facilities,  into  every  mart  of  the  world. 

This  extension  of,  and  refinement  on,  the  principle  of 
reciprocity  as  established  by  commercial  treaties,  is  only  an 
enlargement  of  the  spirit  of  advantage  between  nations. 
Clearly,  nothing  is  given  without  something,  and  the  like, 
is  expected.  As  nations  do  not  trade  for  pure  love  of  the 
thing,  something  more  is  expected  than  is  given,  if  not 
directly,  at  least  indirectly.  But  this  is  protection,  says 


264  RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

the  protectionist,  for  each  nation  seeks  to  advantage  itself, 
and  it  matters  not  whether  it  proceeds  on  the  principle  of 
denial  or  concession.  Not  so,  says  the  free-trader;  it  is 
free-trade,  for  the  moment  you  concede  the  principle  of 
concession  you  repudiate  that  of  denial,  or,  in  other  words, 
discrimination  by  duties.  And  so  economists  bandy  theories, 
and  prove  to  the  world  that  their  science  is  weightier  in 
words  than  worth. 

But  while  commercial  treaties  have  been  the  usual,  almost 
the  sole,  means  of  establishing  reciprocity,  or  reciprocal 
trade,  between  commercial  nations,  they  have  been  slow  and 
cumbrous  of  formation  and  operation,  and  always  costly  of 
negotiation.  They  have  proved  of  doubtful  construction 
and  uncertain  worth,  except  where  the  inducement  to  make 
them  was  very  great,  and  the  power  to  enforce  them  reposed 
in  the  contracting  parties.  New  and  weak  countries  were 
placed  at  a  disadvantage  by  them,  even  if  the  inducement  to 
make  them  existed,  and,  indeed,  no  such  inducement  could 
exist  till  a  country  was  sufficiently  advanced  to  have  some- 
thing substantial  to  offer  for  what  it  desired  to  receive. 

POSITION   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES. 

As  long  as  the  United  States  was  going  through  its  early 
experiments  with  free-trade  and  protection,  there  was  hardly 
a  thought  of  reciprocity  or  reciprocal  trade  as  we  have  come 
to  understand  it.  In  all  the  early  arguments  respecting  the 
advantages  of  protection  by  means  of  duties  on  foreign  im- 
ports, the  central  thought  was  that  protection  was  necessary 
in  order  to  foster  infant  industries.  There  was  hardly  any 
diversity  of  opinion  about  this.  Statesmen  of  all  parties  and 
economic  schools  joined  in  the  thought  and  sought  by 
speech  and  vote  to  establish  the  principle.  Politics  did  not 
seriously  tinge  a.  tariff  debate  as  long  as  the  idea  was 


HON.  CHARLES  F.  CRISP. 

Born  in  Sheffield,  England,  January  29,  1845.  of  American  parents; 
educated  in  common  schools  of  Savannah  and  Macon,  Ga. ;  entered 
Confederate  army,  May,  1861  ;  a  prisoner  of  war,  1864-65;  studied  law 
in  Americus,  Ga.,  and  admitted  to  bar,  1866;  practiced  in  Ellaville ; 
appointed  Solicitor-general  in  1872  and  again  in  1873;  moved  to  Americus 
in  1878;  appointed  Judge  of  Superior  Court,  1876,  and  elected  to  same, 
1878  ;  re-elected  Judge,  1880  ;  elec^l  to  48th,  49th,  50th,  51st  and  52d 
Congresses  ;  elected  Speaker  of  House  in  52d  Congress,  after  a  long  and 
exciting  canvass,  his  leading  opponent  being  Roger  Q.  Mills,  of  Texas. 

^266; 


RECIPROCITY   IN  AMERICA.  .  267 

dominant  that  the  infancy  of  industry  required  the  protective 
hand  of  the  Government.  In  this  the  most  pronounced 
free-traders  had  the  sanction  and  support  of  the  English 
economic  writers,  who,  almost  without  exception,  admitted 
the  doctrine  that  in  order  to  establish  and  foster  infant  in- 
dustries, protection  was  right  in  law  and  morals.  England 
had  universally  and  persistently  applied  the  principle,  till 
she  had  grown  rich,  powerful  and  independent  by  means 
of  it. 

It  was  not  until  1824,  when  the  old  arguments  respecting 
the  uses  of  protection  began  to  be  tinged  by  partyism,  that 
attention  began  to  be  turned  seriously  to  the  advantages  of 
reciprocal  trade.  The  country  was  then  sufficiently  ad- 
vanced to  make  it  a  question  in  the  minds  of  statesmen. 
Free-traders,  the  very  ones  who  had  all  along  favored  pro- 
tection as  a  means  of  fostering  infant  industries,  now  turned 
their  arguments  against  protection  in  general.  The  peculiar 
condition  of  the  country,  divided  into  a  strictly  planting 
class,  with  unpaid  labor  at  its  command,  and  a  manufactur- 
ing, commercial  and  more  diversified  industrial  class,  with 
only  paid  labor  at  its  command,  contributed  to  the  change 
of  sentiment  and  the  tone  of  argument.  The  planting  class, 
with  its  unpaid  labor,  saw  a  menace  in  the  growth  of  manu- 
factures and  commerce,  with  their  paid  labor.  The  system 
of  free,  paid  labor  was  a  harsh  contrast  with,  and  a  standing 
threat  upon,  the  system  of  slave,  unpaid  labor.  Established 
manufactories  and  profitable  commerce  were  proving  a 
source  of  wealth,  population,  importance  and  comfort,  which 
might  in  the  end  overshadow  the  planting  class  and  its 
geographic  section,  even  if  it  did  not  endanger  the  slave 
institution. 

Therefore  the  free-traders  injected  into  their  opposition  to 
protection  the  argument  that  protection  had  already  done 


268  RECIPROCITY   IN   AMERICA. 

its  legitimate  work  in  grounding  and  fostering  the  young 
industries  of  the  country,  and  was  no  longer  necessary. 
They  said  it  was  a  stretch  of  power  any  how  on  the  part  of 
the  government,  and  was  no  longer  justified.  They  said 
that  inasmuch  as  it  could  be  of  no  earthly  use  to  the  plant- 
ing sections,  it  was  unfair  for  the  nation  to  legislate  in  the 
interest  of  the  manufacturing  and  commercial  sections. 
They  attacked  the  constitutionality  of  tariff  legislation.  As 
time  went  on,  and  the  issue  of  slavery  became  more  a  mat- 
ter of  question,  the  tariff  debates  brought  out  in  stronger 
lines  the  above  arguments.  The  doctrine  of  free-trade  took 
passionate  and  almost  sectional  turn.  It  came  nearer  than 
ever  to  cleaving  and  dividing  politics.  Calhoun  did  not 
hesitate  to  declare  that  the  further  fostering  of  industries  by 
means  of  protection  would  destroy  the  planting  class  and 
the  institution  of  slavery  ;  that  the  object  of  free-trade,  as  he 
advocated  it,  was  to  strike  a  blow  at  paid  labor  and  the 
prosperity  of  the  manufacturing  classes ;  that  the  tariff  sys- 
tem was  so  unfair,  so  unconstitutional,  such  an  infliction  on 
the  States  of  his  section,  as  to  warrant  nullification  of  tariff 
laws,  and  if  this  did  not  provide  an  escape  from  their  opera- 
tion, then  secession  would  be  justified. 

THE   NEW    PROTECTIVE    IDEA. 

These  arguments  were  so  ably  maintained,  and  the  situa- 
tion became  so  serious,  as  to  force  the  protectionists  on  to 
new  ground.  It  is  no  disparagement  to  their  numbers  or 
ability  to  say  that  they  could  no  longer  maintain  themselves 
on  the  plea  of  protection  to  infant  industries — the  common 
ground  of  all  statesmen  in  the  beginning.  They  were  com- 
pelled, or  perhaps  the  time  had  arrived  for  it,  to  broaden 
their  ground,  and  to  make  it  more  secure  by  a  new  declara- 
tion of  protective  principles  by,  one  may  say,  a  new  depar- 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  269 

ture  in  political  economy.  This  became  the  dawn  of  those 
doctrines  which,  elaborated  by  time  and  modified  by  cir- 
cumstances, comprise  American  protection  as  enunciated  by 
modern  statesmen,  and  as  they  seek  to  embody  them  in 
protective  legislation. 

The  gist  of  these  doctrines  is,  that  as  labor  constitutes  a 
very  large  per  cent,  of  the  cost  of  an  article,  the  true  meas- 
ure of  protection  is  a  duty  which  will  cover  that  element  of 
cost,  and  thus  save  our  labor  from  competition  with  the  low- 
priced  labor  of  foreign  countries.  Along  with  this  goes  the 
doctrine  that  the  free-list  may  safely  embrace  only  those 
articles  which  are  impossible  of  production  with  us  by  rea- 
son of  our  soil,  climate  and  natural  advantages. 

POLICY   OF   SUBSIDY. 

Abreast  of  this  doctrine  is  another,  daily  growing  more 
momentous,  and  one  which  has  been  enforced  by  the  fact 
that  our  genius  and  facilities  tend  to  overcrowding  in  our 
own  markets ;  it  is,  that  the  very  best  protection  that  can  be 
afforded  in  such  case  is  the  establishment  of  steamship  lines 
to  carry  our  surplus  products  to  those  who  need  them  most, 
or  to  those  of  whom  we  buy  most  and  to  whom  we  have  to 
pay  most.  This  has  been  a  favorite  and  universal  means  of 
protection  with  all  commercial  countries,  and  it  has  been 
employed  at  great  outlay  on  the  part  of  those  countries  in 
the  way  of  pay,  or  subsidy,  to  said  lines,  first  in  order  to 
start  them,  and  second  in  order  to  maintain  them.  But  this 
means  of  protection  has  not  yet  been  reached  in  this  coun- 
try. Subsidy  is  a  word  our  people  cannot  yet  abide.  No 
theory  of  protection  that  embodies  the  word  directly  has 
ever  yet  been  framed  in  this  country  that  could  withstand 
the  assaults  of  its  opponents.  The  reason  is  that  it  appeals 
too  directly  to  the  capitalistic  or  monopolistic  spirit  and 


2?o  RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

class.  On  the  part  of  the  government  it  is  too  direct  a  kind 
of  paternalism.  As  to  the  recipients,  it  is  too  special  a  gift. 
It  is  no  answer  to  all  this,  as  yet,  to  say  that  as  no  other 
commercial  country  ever  succeeded  in  protecting  itself 
through  the  establishment  of  steamship  lines,  except  by 
starting  and  fostering  them  by  subsidies,  so  this  country  has 
not  done,  and  can  never  be  expected  to  do,  the  same  with- 
out the  employment  of  similar  agencies.  Nor  is  it,  as  yet, 
a  sufficient  answer  to  say  that  the  word  subsidy  in  this  con- 
nection can  only  be  rendered  offensive  when  narrowed  to 
its  apparent  recipients,  who  really  ought  not  to  be  consid- 
ered at  all,  or,  if  considered,  ought  to  find  their  true  infini- 
tesimal place  in  comparison  with  the  tens  of  thousands  of 
manufactories,  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  laborers  and 
farmers,  and  the  millions  of  capital,  which  an  exit  for  our 
over  products  would  keep  employed. 

POLICY   OF   RECIPROCITY. 

Still  further,  abreast  of  this  doctrine  is  the  policy  of 
reciprocity;  or,  as  we  had  better  say,  the  principle  of 
practical,  or  applied,  reciprocity,  rendered  conspicuous,  as 
formulated  in  the  Tariff  Act  of  1 890,  and  adopted  as  a 
measure  of  the  Harrison  Administration.  This  policy  pre- 
sumes that  we  ought  to  have  better  outlet  for  our  manufac- 
tures. It  presumes  that  direct  trade  with  those  from  whom 
we  buy  most  and  to  whom  we  sell  least,  would  be  a  most 
desirable  and  advantageous  trade  to  establish,  as  serving  to 
balance  accounts  without  draining  us  of  gold  cash.  It 
presumes  that,  as  to  certain  countries  at  least,  notably 
those  nearest  to  us,  and  especially  those  whose  products 
we  take  largely  and  which  we  cannot  duplicate  at  home, 
we  are  in  a  position  to  offer  what  they  require,  of  as  good 
quality  and  on  as  fair  terms,  as  they  can  secure  elsewhere. 


HON.  WILLIAM  ALFRED  PEPPER. 

Born  in  Cumberland  co.,  Pa.,  September  10,  1831 ;  educated  in  com- 
mon schools ;  engaged  in  teaching  and  farming ;  moved  to  Indiana, 
1853,  and  engaged  in  farming;  moved  to  Missouri,  1859,  and  to  Illi- 
nois, 1861 ;  enlisted  in  Union  army  and  served  in  Department  of  Nash- 
ville ;  studied  law  and  began  practice  in  Clarksville,  Tenn.,  1865 ; 
moved  to  Kansas,  1870,  to  practice  law  and  edit;  elected  to  State 
Senate,  1874;  Republican  elector  in  1880;  editor  of  Kansas  Farmer, 
1881 ;  elected  to  United  States  Senate,  as  a  People's  Party  candidate, 
for  term  beginning  March  4,  1891 ;  an  exponent  of  the  ideas  advocated 
by  the  Farmer's  Alliance  and  other  new  parties. 

(272) 


HON.  RICHARD  R  PETTJGREW. 

Born  at  Ludlow,  Vermont,  July,  1848 ;  moved  to  Wisconsin,  1854 ; 
studied  at  Beloit  College,  1865-66;  member  of  law  class  of  Wisconsin 
University,  1870;  moved  to  Dakota,  1869 ;  engaged  in  surveying  and 
real  estate  at  Sioux  Falls ;  practiced  law  since  1872 ;  elected  to  Dakota 
Legislature,  1877  and  1879 ;  elected  Territorial  delegate  to  47th  Con- 
gress; re-elected  to  Legislature,  1884-85;  member  of  South  Dakota 
Constitutional  Convention,  1883 ;  elected  U.  S.  Senator,  as  a  Republican, 
from  South  Dakota,  October  16,  1889;  chairman  of  Quadro- Centennial 
Committee,  and  member  of  Committees  on  Improvement  of  Mississippi 
River,  Indian  Affairs,  Public  Lands  and  Railroads. 

(273) 


RECIPROCITY   IN  AMERICA.  275 

It  presumes  that  inasmuch  as  we  are  sufficiently  advanced 
and  sufficiently  well  off  to  remit  entirely  duties  on  their  pro- 
ducts,— most  of  which  are  necessaries  of  life,  and  hitherto 
subjected  to  duty  for  sheer  purposes  of  revenue, — and  ac- 
tually do  remit  such  duties,  that  they  ought  to  reciprocate 
by  either  abolishing  or  lowering  their  duties  on  articles  we 
send  to  them.  Not  to  do  so  would  be  unreciprocal.  It 
would  be  for  us  to  enlarge  our  inducements  for  their  trade, 
by  removing  duties  upon  it,  and  for  them  to  reject  these 
inducements  by  refusing  to  modify  or  abolish  duties  on  our 
trade. 

COUNTRIES   MOST   INTERESTED. 

It  is  clear  to  every  one  that  the  countries  most  directly 
affected  by  what  may  now  be  called  the  American  policy 
of  reciprocity,  are  those  countries  to  the  south  of  us,  which 
comprise  Mexico,  Central  America  and  South  America. 
To  these  may  be  added  other  countries  whose,  or  any  part 
of  whose,  products  are  as  theirs  are.  This  being  so,  even 
the  casual  student  of  history  will  be  struck  by  a  comparison 
of  two  American  continental  epochs  or  eras,  the  one  political, 
the  other  commercial. 

Let  us  take  the  political  one  and  consider  it.  It  began 
in  1787,  the  date  on  which  our  Republican  experiment  was 
launched,  the  date  of  our  Federal  Constitution.  Add  thirty 
years  to  it,  so  as  to  make  it  embrace  a  period  up  to  the  date 
of  what  may  be  called  general  and  successful  revolt  against 
Spanish  supremacy  in  South  America,  and  the  establishment 
of  the  South  American  Republics.  Fix  this  date  at  say 
about  the  year  1824.  These  thirty  years,  or  thereabouts, 
saw  the  United  States  engaged  in  rinding  a  permanent  place 
for  her  political  institutions.  She  was  manfully  meeting  the 
trials  to  which  young  countries  are  subjected,  and  especially 


=  ;6  RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

those  countries  that  have  been  compelled  to  conquer  their 
independence  by  means  of  war,  and  have  been  bold  enough 
to  dare  a  political  experiment  at  odds  with  the  systems,  tra- 
ditions and  instincts  of  the  mother  countries.  She  was 
heroically  and  successfully  passing  through  the  stages — 
many  of  them  severe,  even  to  the  point  of  a  second  war — 
which  led  up  to  full  independence,  to  universal  recognition 
of  her  right  to  exist  as  a  government  and  nation,  and  to  that 
conspicuous  place  in  the  firmament  of  Western  Republics, 
which  made  her  a  cynosure  in  the  eyes  of  all. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  period  what  did  she  find  ?  The 
entire  continent  to  the  south  of  her  was  Spanish.  Spanish 
political  domination  was  complete  as  it  could  be,  all  things 
considered.  Then  came  the  gradual  breaking  away  from 
foreign  and  monarchical  moorings,  under  the  lead  of  brave 
generals,  like  Bolivar,  under  the  influence  of  enlarged  ideas 
of  freedom,  under  the  inspiration  furnished  by  the  success 
of  the  northern  experiment. 

So  busy  had  the  United  States  been  with  her  own  exper- 
iment, that  she  had  not  had  time  to  more  than  note  what 
was  going  on  to  the  south  of  her.  Her  own  expanse  was 
so  ample,  her  resources  so  sufficient,  her  thought  so  dis- 
tinctive, as  that  political  confederacy  on  the  continent  had 
not  occurred  to  her,  or  at  least  had  taken  no  definite  shape. 
Neither  had  political  co-operation,  or,  in  other  words,  polit- 
ical reciprocity,  taken  even  vague  shape.  Sympathy  existed 
for  every  effort  looking  to  the  breaking  of  the  Spanish  yoke. 
Indirect  encouragement  was  offered  to  the  erection  of  every 
republican  temple  founded  on  the  ashes  of  European  mon- 
archy. But  that  was  all,  until  the  time  should  come  when, 
her  own  political  destiny  being  assured,  and  a  new  order  of 
statesmen  having  arisen,  the  Republic  of  the  North  could 
afford  to  recognize  in  a  more  direct  manner  those  of  the  South. 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  277 

POLITICAL  INTEREST  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  SOUTH  AMER- 
ICAN REPUBLICS. 

It  was  in  1808  that  the  interference  of  Napoleon  with  the 
affairs  of  Spain  enabled  the  South  American  republics  to 
rejoice  in  the  assurance  of  their  own  autonomy.  But  a  long 
struggle  was  necessary  in  order  to  establish  the  independ- 
ence they  hoped  for.  For  twenty  years  they  looked  vainly 
for  succor  or  approval  from  European  monarchies.  They 
had  been  all  along  looking  to  the  Republic  of  the  North, 
and  copying  her  splendid  example.  They  now  began  to 
look  for  substantial  recognition,  and  they  found  in  Henry 
Clay  their  earliest  and  ablest  champion.  In  1818  Mr.  Clay 
made  a  passionate  appeal  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
for  their  recognition,  and  in  the  same  year  the  condition  of 
the  South  American  provinces  became  a  subject  of  consid- 
eration at  a  cabinet  meeting,  James  Monroe  being  President. 
Four  years  afterwards,  the  recognition  they  sought  from  the 
United  States  came,  and  it  was  soon  followed  by  recognition 
on  the  part  of  Great  Britain.  In  the  next  year,  1823,  Pres- 
ident Monroe,  in  his  message  to  Congress,  and  in  discussing 
the  relation  of  foreign  powers  toward  those  on  the  Ameri- 
can Continent,  said : 

"  In  wars  of  European  powers,  in  matters  relating  to 
themselves,  we  have  never  taken  any  part,  nor  does  it  com- 
port with  our  policy  to  do  so.  It  is  only  when  our  rights 
are  invaded  or  seriously  menaced  that  we  resent  injnries  or 
make  preparation  for  our  defence.  With  the  movements  in 
this  hemisphere  we  are  of  necessity  more  immediately  con- 
nected, and  by  causes  which  must  be  obvious  to  all  enlight- 
ened and  impartial  observers.  The  political  system  of  the 
allied  powers  (of  Europe)  is  essentially  different  in  this 
respect  from  that  of  America.  This  difference  proceeds 
from  that  which  exists  in  their  respective  governments. 


278  RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

And  to  the  defence  of  our  own  which  has  been  achieved  by 
the  loss  of  so  much  blood  and  treasure,  and  matured  by  the 
wisdom  of  our  most  enlightened  citizens,  and  under  which 
we  have  enjoyed  unexampled  felicity,  this  whole  nation  is 
devoted.  We  owe  it,  therefore,  to  candor,  and  to  the  ami- 
cable relations  subsisting  between  the  United  States  and 
those  powers,  to  declare  that  we  should  consider  any  attempt 
on  their  part  to  extend  their  system,  to  any  portion  of  this  hem- 
isphere as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and  safety.  With  the  ex- 
isting colonies  or  dependencies  of  any  European  power  we 
have  not  interfered,  and  shall  not  interfere.  But  with  the 
governments  who  have  declared  their  independence  and 
maintained  it,  and  whose  independence  we  have,  on  great 
consideration  and  on  just  principles,  acknowledged,  we  could 
not  view  any  interposition,  for  the  purpose  of  oppressing  them, 
or  controlling  "in  any  other  manner  their  destiny,  by  any  Eu- 
ropean power,  in  any  other  light  than  as  the  manifestation  of 
an  unfriendly  disposition  toward  the  United  States" 

This  was  the  "  Monroe  Doctrine ; "  this  the  note  of  warn- 
ing, to  monarchical  Europe  to  keep  hands  off  the  political 
destiny  of  a  Continent.  It  was  of  this  doctrine  that  Daniel 
Webster,  in  a  speech  in  the  House,  April,  1826,  upon  the 
subject  of  an  appropriation  to  send  a  mission  from  the 
United  States  to  the  South  American  Congress  at  Panama, 
said : 

"  I  look  on  the  message  of  December,  1823,  as  forming  a 
bright,  page  in  our  history.  I  will  neither  help  to  erase  it 
or  tear  it  out,  nor  shall  it  by  any  act  of  mine  be  blurred  or 
blotted.  It  did  honor  to  the  sagacity  of  the  government, 
and  I  will  not  diminish  that  honor.  It  elevated  the  hopes 
and  gratified  the  patriotism  of  the  people.  Over  those  hopes 
I  will  not  bring  a  mildew,  nor  will  I  put  that  gratffied  patri- 
otism to  shame." 


HON.  .WILLIAM  B.  ALLISON. 

Born  at  Perry,  Ohio,  March  2,  1829 ;  educated  at  Western  Reserve 
College ;  admitted  to  bar  in  Ohio ;  moved  to  Iowa,  1857 ;  served  <4fc 
Governor's  staff  during  war;  elected  as  Republican  to  38th,  39th,  40th 
and  41st  Congresses  ;  elected  to  United  States  Senate,  1872 ;  re-elected, 
1878,  1884  and  1890 ;  one  of  the  oldest,  ablest  and  most  respected 
Senators  ;  Chairman  of  Committee  on  Appropriations  ;  Member  of  Com' 
mittees  on  Engrossed  Bills,  Finance  and  Canadian  Relations. 

(279) 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  28i 

CONGRESS   OF   REPUBLICS. 

In  1821  the  Republic  of  Colombia  suggested  the  idea  of 
a  closer  connection  between  the  Spanish  colonies  in  Central 
and  South  America.  In  July,  1822,  and  before  their  inde- 
pendence had  been  recognized  by  the  United  States,  Colom- 
bia and  Chili  negotiated  a  treaty  looking  to  a  Congress  of 
the  new  Republics,  resembling  the  one  already  constructed 
in  Europe  (The  Holy  Alliance,  which  was  an  attempt  to 
fetter  all  Europe  with  absolute  monarchy),  and  having  for 
its  object  "The  construction  of  a  continental  system  for 
America." 

The  idea  ripened  slowly,  though  it  was  sedulously  cher- 
ished by  Bolivar  and  other  leaders,  Bolivar  being  then  at 
the  head  of  the  Republic  of  Peru.  It  was  not  until  De- 
cember 7,  1824,  that  he  issued  his  invitation  to  the  Repub- 
lics south  of  us,  to  meet  in  conference  at  Panama.  Most 
of  them  accepted,  and  the  "  General  Assembly  of  the  Amer- 
ican Republics  "  met  at  Panama,  June  22,  1826. 

What  was  singular  about  this  Congress  or  General  As- 
sembly was  that  it  was  no  part  of  Bolivar's  design  to  invite 
the  United  States  to  participate.  The  Republics  of  South 
America  had  abolished  African  slavery  in  1813.  Doubtless 
Bolivar  felt  that  the  interest  which  the  United  States  had  at 
that  time  in  preserving  and  extending  slavery  would  tend  to 
embarrass  her  acceptance  of  an  invitation,  or  make  her  an 
unwelcome,  if  not  dangerous,  participant.  The  invitation  to 
the  United  States  came  from  Colombia  and  Mexico,  after  an 
inquiry  through  Mr.  Clay  as  to  whether  it  would  be  accep- 
table to  President  Adams.  Mr.  Adams  was  so  far  satisfied 
as  that  he  appointed  two  representatives  to  the  Congress  or 
Conference,  subject  to  the  "  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate." 

In  his  message  to  the  Senate,  Mr.  Adams  gave  among 


282  RECIPROCITY   IN  AMERICA. 

other  reasons  for  his  action  the  following,  which  is  valuable 
in  this  connection  as  showing  the  dawn  of  the  idea  that 
mutual  commercial  intercourse  with  the  South  American 
States  might  well  become  a  subject  of  consideration  in  such 
a  conference  as  that  proposed.  He  said : 

"  But  the  South  American  nations,  in  the  infancy  of  their 
independence,  often  find  themselves  in  positions  with  refer- 
ence to  other  countries,  with  principles  applicable  to  which, 
derivable  from  the  state  of  independence  itself,  they  have 
not  been  familiarized  by  experience.  The  result  of  this  has 
been  that  sometimes  in  their  intercourse  with  the  United 
States  they  have  manifested  dispositions  to  reserve  a  right 
of  granting  special  favors  and  privileges  to  the  Spanish  na- 
tion as  the  price  of  their  recognition ;  at  others,  they  have 
actually  established  duties  and  impositions  operating  unfavor- 
ably to  the  United  States,  to  the  advantage  of  European  pow- 
ers;  and  sometimes  they  have  appeared  to  consider  that 
they  might  interchange  among  themselves  mutual  conces- 
sions of  exclusive  favor,  to  which  neither  European  powers 
nor  the  United  States  should  be  admitted.  In  most  of  these 
cases  their  regulations  unfavorable  to  us  have  yielded  to 
friendly  expostulation  and  remonstrance ;  but  it  is  believed 
to  be  of  infinite  moment  that  the  principles  of  a  liberal  com- 
mercial intercourse  should  be  exhibited  to  them  and  urged 
with  interested  and  friendly  persuasion  upon  them,  when 
all  are  assembled  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  consulting 
together  upon  the  establishment  of  such  principles 
as  may  have  an  important  bearing  upon  their  future  wel- 
fare." 

The  debate  in  the  Senate  upon  the  proposed  mission  was 
exceedingly  acrimonious.  Serious  charges  were  brought 
against  President  Adams,  and  the  policy  and  purposes  of 
his  administration  were  denounced  as  dangerous.  It  was 


RECIPROCITY   IN  AMERICA.  283 

declared  that  the  mission  would  lead  to  international  com- 
plications. The  slave-holding  members  affirmed  that  in 
reference  to  the  rest  of  America,  as  well  as  to  Europe, 
slavery  must  be  and  remain  the  prime  motive  of  the  foreign 
policy  of  the  United  States,  and  they  said  that  they  saw  in 
the  conference  peril  to  their  "peculiar  institutions,"  for  the 
history  of  these  Southern  Republics  as  to  slavery  furnished 
an  example  "scarcely  less  fatal  than  the  independence  of 
Hayti  to  the  repose  of  the  slave  States  of  the  Union." 
They  had  not  only  copied  from  the  revolutionary  records  of 
the  United  States  the  words  "  freedom,"  "  equality "  and 
"  universal  emancipation,"  but  had  actually  broken  the 
chains  of  all  slaves. 

THE   COMMERCIAL   THOUGHT    UPPERMOST. 

The  defenders  of  the  proposed  mission  and  of  the  Presi- 
dent's action  made  many  elaborate  arguments  for  their  side, 
all  of  which  embraced  in  some  form  the  idea  of  more  ex- 
tended and  intimate  commercial  intercourse,  upon  the  basis 
of  mutual  or  reciprocal  trade.  When  Mr.  Adams  was  asked 
by  the  House  for  further  information  respecting  his  view 
and  his  action  he  responded  in  a  lengthy  message,  in  which 
he  said :  — 

"  The  first  and  paramount  principle  upon  which  it  was 
deemed  wise  and  just  to  lay  the  corner-stone  of  all  our 
future  relations  with  them  was  disinterestedness ;  the  next 
was  cordial  good  will  to  them  ;  the  third  was  a  claim  of  fair 
and  equal  reciprocity'' 

Then  in  further  allusion  to  the  commercial  idea  he  said :  — 

"  It  will  be  within  the  recollection  of  the  House  that  im- 
mediately after  our  War  of  Independence  a  measure  closely 
analogous  to  this  Congress  of  Panama  was  adopted  by  the 
Congress  of  our  Confederation  and  for  purposes  of  precisely 


284  RECIPROCITY  IN  AMKKIL'A. 

the  same  character.  Three  commissioners  with  plenipoten- 
tiary powers  were  appointed  to  negotiate  treaties  of  amity, 
navigation  and  commerce  with  all  the  principal  powers  of 
Europe.  They  met  and  resided  at  Paris  for  one  year,  for 
that  purpose,  and  the  only  result  of  their  negotiations  was 
our  first  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Prussia, 
memorable  in  the  diplomatic  annals  of  the  world  and  pre- 
cious as  a  monument  of  principles  in  relation  to  commerce 
and  maritime  warfare,  with  which  our  country  entered  upon 
her  career  as  a  member  of  the  great  family  of  independent 
nations." 

In  the  Senate,  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  reported 
against  the  expediency  of  sending  ministers  to  the  Panama 
Congress,  but  afterwards,  and  very  grudgingly,  approved  the 
President's  selection.  The  House,  after  long  delay,  agreed 
to  appropriate  the  necessary  funds.  The  ministers  were 
sent,  but  delay  had  done  its  designed  work.  They  were  too 
late  for  the  Conference,  which  had  adjourned  previous  to 
their  arrival.  Mr.  Clay,  then  Secretary  of  State,  was  much 
mortified  at  the  failure,  and  the  President,  in  1829,  in  allud- 
ing to  the  failure  said  to  the  Senate  : — "  While  there  is  no 
probability  of  the  renewal  of  the  negotiations,  the  purposes 
for  which  they  were  intended  are  still  of  the  deepest  inter- 
est to  our  country  and  to  the  world,  and  may,  hereafter,  call 
again  for  the  active  energies  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States" 

It  might  be  interesting  in  this  connection  to  know  that 
the  South  and  Central  American  Republics  continued  to 
hold  conferences  for  consideration  and  adjustment  of  their 
affairs  and  the  unification  of  their  interests.  One  was  held 
at  Lima  in  1847,  another  in  1864,  another  was  proposed  at 
Panama  in  1881,  which  was  prevented  by  the  South  Amer- 
ican wars,  and  another  was  held  at  Montevideo  in  1888-89. 


HON.  THOMAS  C.  POWER. 

Born  near  Dubuque,  Iowa,  May  22,  1839 ;  educated  at  Sinsinewa 
College,  Wis.,  in  engineering;  with  surveying  party  in  Dakota,  1860; 
engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits  on  Missouri  river ;  located  at  Fort  Ben- 
ton,  1867;  President  of  "  Benton  P"  line  of  steamers;  largely  inter- 
ested in  mines,  cattle  and  mercantile  companies ;  moved  to  Helena  in 
1878 ;  member  of  Montana  Constitutional  Convention,  1883 ;  delegate 
to  Republican  National  Convention,  1888;  nominated  for  Governor  of 
State,  1889,  on  Republican  ticket,  and  defeated;  elected  to  United 
States  Senate,  as  Republican,  January  2,  1890;  Chairman  of  Civil  Ser- 
vice Committee;  member  of  Committees  on  Improvements  of  Missis- 
sippi River,  Indian  Affairs,  Public  Lands,  Railroads. 

(286) 


RECIPROCITY   IN  AMERICA.  287 

The  United  States  was  not  represented  in  any  of  them. 
The  era  of  our  political  influence  upon  these  Republics, 
whether  by  example,  or  by  the  encouragement  extended  in 
the  "  Monroe  Doctrine,"  or  by  the  comity  intended  by  Mr. 
Adams,  had  ended  with  their  freedom  from  monarchical 
yoke  and  the  assurance  that  they  were  forever  committed 
to  the  Republican  spirit. 

COMMERCIAL    BONDAGE   OF   THE   REPUBLICS. 

But  singular  as  it  may  seem  that  political  freedom  was 
followed  by  commercial  bondage.  Commercial  Europe  set 
her  head  for  conquest,  and  with  her  immense  facilities  over- 
ran the  marts  from  which  the  Spanish  warships  had  been 
driven.  This  invasion  has  become  well  nigh  complete. 

We  now  come  to  the  second  era  above  mentioned — the 
commercial.  We  have  seen  how  the  end  of  the  political 
era  witnessed  the  dawn  of  the  idea  of  commercial  reciproc- 
ity with  the  Southern  Republics.  The  idea  lay  dormant, 
so  far  as  the  United  States  was  concerned,  through  the 
period  devoted  to  working  out  its  own  i  ;dustrial  and  com- 
mercial independence.  The  industrial  and  commercial  pe- 
riod from  1824  to  1860  maybe  likened  to  the  political 
period  prior  to  the  Revolution.  The  industrial  and  com- 
mercial period  from  1861  to  the  present  may  be  likened 
to  the  political  period  from  1787  to  1824,  each  of  these  pe- 
riods being  considered  with  reference  to  our  relations  to  the 
Southern  Republics.  Strange  to  say,  the  above  period  from 
1 86 1  to  the  present  corresponds  in  length  with  the  period 
from  1787  to  1824,  at  whose  end  we  took  political  cogniz- 
ance of  these  Republics  and  witnessed  their  freedom  from 
European  monarchy. 

The  settlement  of  our  sectional  differences  by  civil  war, 
the  establishment  of  a  system  of  finance  which  gives  us 
'3 


288  RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

rank  among  the  nations,  the  practice  of  protection  which 
made  us  industrially  and  commercially  independent,  brings 
us  to  a  point  of  time  when  our  example  and  influence  must 
affect  the  countries  of  our  continent  to  the  south  of  us  in  a 
commercial  sense,  just  as  they  were  affected  in  a  political 
sense.  If  their  commercial  subj  ugation  by  Europe  is  as 
complete  as  was  their  political  subjugation  by  Spain,  and 
their  independence  as  desirable,  they  may  well  look  once 
more  to  us  for  something  which  in  commerce  shall  be  the 
equivalent  of  the  "  Monroe  Doctrine  "  in  politics.  We  are 
in  a  position  to  extend  it,  at  least  that  is  the  significance  of 
practical  reciprocity. 

A   PEACE  CONGRESS. 

What  President  Adams  called  "  the  deepest  interests 
of  our  country,"  and  what  he  prophesied  might  "  hereafter 
call  again  for  the  active  energies  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,"  began  its  culmination  with  the  mvitation  of 
President  Garfield  for  all  the  independent  governments  of 
North  and  South  America  to  meet  in  a  Peace  Congress  at 
Washington.  It  has  been  given  out  that  he  aimed  at  some- 
thing more  than  a  mere  code  of  arbitration  in  case  of  dis- 
putes which  might  lead  to  war  among  American  states, 
and  that  he  contemplated  making  commercial  reciprocity  a 
leading  feature  of  his  administration.  His  death  frustrated 
his  design. 

A  MORE  COMMERCIAL  THOUGHT. 

President  Garfield's  invitation  was  recalled  by  President 
Arthur  in  order  that  the  Congress  might  be  given  opportu- 
nity to  consider  the  advisability  of  the  step.  Just  as  soon 
as  the  Congress  began  to  deliberate  upon  the  matter,  the 
subject  took  wider  and  wider  range,  and  the  idea  of  recip- 
rocal commerce  became  a  conspicuous  feature,  On  Jan- 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  289 

uary  21,  1880,  Senator  Davis  of  Illinois  first  threw  his 
suggestion  of  an  "  International  American  Conference  "  into 
a  Senate  Bill  in  which  occurred  the  following  words  :  — 

"  Whereas  from  the  southern  boundary  of  the  United 
States  to  the  Argentine  Republic,  and  also  the  Republic  of 
Chile,  a  distance  of  about  4,500  miles,  including  Mexico, 
Central  America,  Colombia,  Venezuela,  Peru,  Ecuador, 
Brazil,  Bolivia,  Paraguay  and  Uruguay,  containing  a  popu- 
lation of,  in  all,  about  40,000,000  industrious  and  progressive 
people,  with  whom  the  United  States  hold,  and  d:cire  to 
maintain,  the  most  fr'endly  relations,  and  with  whom  a 
closer  and  reciprocal  interest  in  trade  and  commerce  ought 
to  be  encouraged,"  etc. 

The  Davis  proposition  looked  to  this  "  closer  and  recip- 
rocal interest  in  trade  and  commerce  "  by  means  of  a  great 
southern  railroad  connecting  the  three  Americas. 

On  April  24,  1882,  Senator  Cockrell,  of  Missouri,  intro- 
duced into  the  Senate  a  bill  similar  to  the  above,  whose 
object  was  the  "  appointment  of  a  special  commissioner  for 
promoting  intercourse  with  such  countries  of  Central  and 
South  America  as  may  be  found  to  possess  natural  facilities 
for  railway  communication  with  each  other  and  with  the 
United  States." 

On  the  same  date,  April  24,  1882,  Senator  Morgan,  of 
Alabama,  introduced  a  kindred  bill,  "  for  the  encouragement 
of  closer  commercial  relations  between  the  United  States 
and  the  Republic  of  Mexico,  Central  America,  the  Empire 
of  Brazil  and  the  several  Republics  of  South  America." 

Similar  bills  were  introduced  into  the  House,  all  looking 
to  "  the  promotion  of  commercial  intercourse  "  with  the 
countries  to  the  south  of  us,  all  of  which  were  reported 
adversely  by  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs. 

In  1883  Senator  Sherman  reintroduced  into  the  Senate 


290  RECIPROCITY   IN  AMERICA. 

the  Morgan  Bill  of  1882.  In  the  first  session  of  the  Forty- 
eighth  Congress,  Mr.  Townsend,  of  Illinois,  introduced  a 
joint  resolution,  "  inviting  the  co-operation  of  the  Govern- 
ments of  American  nations  in  securing  the  establishment  of 
free  commercial  intercourse  among  those  nations  and  an 
American  Customs'  Union." 

On  March  3,  1884,  Senator  Cockrell  introduced  a  Senate 
bill  authorizing  a  commission  to  Central  and  South  Amer- 
ica "  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  information  looking  to 
the  extension  of  American  trade  and  commerce,"  etc.  This 
bill  was  reported  favorably  by  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Affairs. 

Before  taking  action  on  this  bill,  the  Committee  on  For- 
eign Affairs  of  the  Senate  requested  the  views  of  Mr.  Fre- 
linghuysen,  Secretary  of  State,  as  to  the  proposed  legisla- 
tion. He  reviewed  the  entire  question  very  fully  in  his 
reply  of  March  26,  1884,  and  fully  set  forth  the  advantages 
of  reciprocity  with  these  countries.  His  arguments  pointed 
directly  to  reciprocity  as  a  necessity,  in  case  duties  were 
greatly  lowered,  or  entirely  removed,  on  the  products  of 
these  countries. 

"  I  am,"  said  he,  "  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  advisa- 
bility of  knitting  closely  our  relations  with  the  States  of 
this  Continent,  and  no  effort  on  my  part  shall  be  wanting  to 
accomplish  a  result  so  consonant  with  the  constant  policy 
of  this  country  and  in  the  spirit  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine, 
which,  in  excluding  foreign  political  interference,  recognizes 
the  common  interest  of  the  States  of  North  and  South 
America.  It  is  the  history  of  all  diplomacy  that  close  po- 
litical relations  and  friendship  spring  from  unity  of  com- 
mercial interests 

The  true  plan,  it  seems  to  me,  is  to  make  a  series  of  reci- 
procity treaties  with  the  States  of  Central  and  South 


HON.  REDFIELD  PROCTOR. 

Born  at  Proctorsville,  Vermont,  June  1,  1831;  graduated  from  Dart- 
mouth, 1851,  and  from  Albany  Law  School  in  1859 ;  practiced  law 
in  Boston  ;  served  in  Army  1861—63 ;  rose  to  be  Colonel  of  Fifteenth 
Vermont  Volunteers ;  returned  to  practice  of  law;  elected  to  Assembly, 
1867-68  ;  again,  1888  ;  served  in  State  Senate,  1874-76 ;  elected  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor,  1876;  advanced  to  Governor,  1878;  delegate-at-large 
to  Republican  National  Conventions,  1884,  1888 ;  appointed  Secretary 
of  War  by  President  Harrison,  1889 ;  resigned  November  1,  1891,  to 
take  place  of  Senator  Edmunds  in  United  States  Senate;  a  man  of  pro- 
nounced Republican  views,  high  standing  as  lawyer  and  statesman,  ripe 
business  experience,  and  great  popularity  with  his  people. 


IN  AMERICA.  293 

America,  taking  care  that  those  manufactures,  and  as  far  as 
is  practicable  those  products,  which  would  come  into  com- 
petition with  our  own  manufactures  and  products  should 
not  be  admitted  to  the  free  list.  By  these  treaties  we  might 
secure  for  valuable  consideration  so  as  not  to  violate  the 
most-favored-nation  clause  of  other  treaties,  further  substan- 
tial advantages.  Such,  for  example,  as  the  free  navigation 
of  their  coasts,  rivers  and  lakes. 

"  Indiscriminate  reduction  of  duties  on  materials  pecu- 
liarly the  production  of  Central  and  South  America  would 
take  from  us  the  ability  to  offer  reciprocity,  and  we  would 
thus  lose  the  opportunity  to  secure  valuable  trade.  Re- 
moval of  duties  from  coffee,  without  greatly  cheapening  its 
price,  deprived  us  of  the  power  to  negotiate  with  the  coffee- 
growing  countries  of  Spanish-America  highly  advantageous 
reciprocity  treaties,  and  indiscriminate  reduction  of  duties 
on  sugar  would  complete  our  inability  to  establish  favorable 
commercial  relations  with  those  countries  which  form  our 
natural  market,  and  from  which  we  are  now  almost  entitely 
excluded.  If  we  confine  the  reduction  of  duties  on  such 
articles  as  sugar  and  coffee  to  those  Spanish-American  coun- 
tries which  are  willing  to  negotiate  with  us  treaties  of  reci- 
procity, we  cheapen  these  products  for  our  own  people  and 
at  the  same  time  gain  the  control  of  those  markets  for  the 
products  of  our  fields  and  factories." 

STARTLING    REVELATIONS. 

The  report  of  the  House  Committee,  to  which  two  of  the 
above  bills  had  been  referred,  was  most  elaborate  and  con- 
tained some  startling  revelations  as  to  trade  with  these 
countries.  It  showed  their  total  commerce  in  J  883  to  be 
$752,918,000,  in  which  the  United  States  participated  only 
to  the  extent  of  $142,282,000.  It  showed  that  their  imports 


294  RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

to  the  United  States  amounted  for  that  year  to  $93,319,000, 
whereas  we  sent  in  turn  to  them  only  $48,963,000.  It 
quoted  from  the  work  of  a  recent  commercial  traveller 
through  those  States,  to  this  effect : 

"  It  always  grieved  me  exceedingly,  and  was  particularly 
offensive  to  my  sense  of  the  fitness  of  things,  to  find  almost 
everything  in  the  way  of  foreign  merchandise,  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  my  routes,  of  European  manufacture. 
At  different  points  along  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts,  in 
many  cities  of  the  plains,  in  various  towns  on  the  mountain 
slopes,  on  the  apex  of  Potosi  and  on  the  tops  of  other  An- 
dean peaks  higher  than  Mount  Hood,  I  have  gone  into 
stores  and  warehouses  and  looked  in  vain — utterly  in  vain — 
for  one  single  article  of  American  manufacture.  From  the 
little  pin  with  which  the  lady  fastens  her  beau-catching 
ribbons  to  the  grand  piano  with  which  she  enlivens  and 
enchants  the  hearts  of  all  her  household ;  from  the  tiniest 
thread  and  tack  and  tool  needed  in  the  mechanic  arts  to  the 
largest  plows  and  harrows  and  other  agricultural  implements 
and  machines  required  for  use  on  the  farm — all  these  and 
other  things,  the  wares  and  fabrics  and  light  groceries  and 
delicacies  in  common  demand ;  the  drugs  and  chemicals  sold 
by  the  apothecary ;  the  fermented,  malt  and  spirituous  liq- 
uors in  the  wine  saloon ;  the  stationery  and  fancy  goods  in 
the  book-store ;  the  furniture  in  the  parlor  and  the  utensils 
in  the  kitchen,  are,  with  rare  exceptions,  of  English,  German, 
Spanish,  or  Italian  manufacture.  And  what  makes  the 
matter  still  more  unsatisfactory  and  vexatious  to  the  North 
American  and  more  expensive  and  otherwise  disadvantageous 
to  the  South  American,  is  that  these  articles  are,  as  a  gen- 
eral rule,  inferior  both  in  material  and  make  to  the  corre- 
sponding article  of  American  manufacture." 

The  report  favored  the  appointment  of  a  commission  to 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMBRICA.  295 

these  countries.  A  bill  authorizing  such  commission  was 
passed,  and  George  H.  Sharpe,  New  York,  Solon  O.  Thacher, 
Kansas,  and  Thomas  C.  Reynolds,  Missouri,  were  appointed 
Commissioners,  with  Mr.  W.  E.  Curtis  as  Secretary.  They 
sat  in  our  principal  cities,  visited  the  countries  of  Central 
and  South  America,  and  made  valuable  reports  from  time  to 
time. 

On  December  21,  1885,  Mr.  Townsend,  of  Illinois,  rein- 
troduced  his  resolution  into  the  House,  looking  to  an  Amer- 
ican Customs'  Union.  It  was  reported  adversely,  as  was  a 
bill  providing  for  international  arbitration.  The  same  fatal- 
ity befell  similar  bills  in  the  Senate. 

GROWTH  OF  THE  COMMERCIAL  THOUGHT. 

On  February  22,  1886,  Senator  Frye,  of  Maine,  intro- 
duced an  elaborate  bill  into  the  Senate  "  to  promote  the 
political  progress  and  commercial  prosperity  of  the  United 
States."  It  provided  for  an  American  International  Con- 
gress at  Washington  on  October  I,  1887,  and  suggested  a 
list  of  subjects  to  be  considered,  which  list  embraced : 

1.  Measures  of  peace  and  prosperity. 

2.  An  American  Customs'  Union. 

3.  Regular  and  frequent  steamship  lines. 

4.  Uniform  system  of  customs  regulations. 

5.  Uniform  weights  and  measures. 

6.  A  common  silver  coin. 

J.  A  definite  plan  of  arbitration. 

On  March  29,  1886,  Mr.  McCreary,  of  Kentucky,  intro- 
duced in  the  House  a  bill  "  authorizing  the  President  to 
arrange  a  conference  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  peace- 
ful and  reciprocal  commercial  relations  between  the  United 
States  and  Mexico,  the  Central  American  and  South  Amer- 


296  RECIPROCITY  IN   AMERICA. 

ican  States."     On  the  same  day  Mr.  McKinley,  of  Ohio, 
introduced  a  bill  favoring  an  Arbitration  Conference. 

On  April  15,  1886,  Mr.  McCreary,  of  Kentucky,  reported 
his  bill  from  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  with  a  com- 
plete text  and  favorable  report.  It  provided  for  an  Inter- 
national Conference  at  Washington,  and  for  "considering 
questions  relating  to  the  improvement  of  business  inter- 
course between  said  countries,  and  to  encourage  such  recip- 
rocal commercial  relations  as  will  be  beneficial  to  all  and 
secure  more  extensive  markets  for  the  products  of  each  of 
said  countries." 

NECESSITY    FOR    RECIPROCAL   TRADE. 

The  report  of  the  majority  of  the  committee  accompa- 
nying this  bill  was  a  very  able  one,  and  particularly  valuable 
as  a  matter  of  economic  and  commercial  history,  and  as 
coming  from  a  committee  not  regarded  as  favorable  to  the 
reciprocity  idea. 

The  report  set  forth  among  other  things  : 

"  The  subject  of  establishing  closer  international  relations 
between  all  the  Republics  of  the  American  continent  and 
also  the  Empire  of  Brazil,  containing  in  the  aggregate  one 
hundred  millions  of  people,  for  the  purpose  of  improving 
the  business  intercourse  between  those  countries  and  secur- 
ing more  extensive  markets  for  the  products  of  each,  is  both 
interesting  and  important.  Sixty  years  ago  this  subject 
was  discussed  and  a  conference  was  suggested  between  rep- 
resentatives of  our  Government  and  the  other  Governments, 
and  President  John  Quincy  Adams  appointed  representa- 
tives to  the  Congress  held  at  Panama  to  consider  measures 
for  promoting  peace  and  reciprocal  commercial  relations 
between  said  countries.  This  Conference  was  beneficial, 
but  at  that  time  our  people  were  looking  more  to  Europe 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  $9? 

for  business  and  commerce  than  to  the  countries  south  of 
us,  and  no  action  was  taken  by  our  Congress.  Now  the 
United  States  is  at  peace  with  all  the  world  and  our  popu- 
lation and  wealth  make  this  the  foremost  Republic  of  the 
world,  and  our  Government  should  inaugurate  the  move- 
ment in  favor  of  an  American  Conference. 

"  The  present  depression  of  business  and  low  price  of 
farm  products  are  caused,  to  a  considerable  extent,  by  a 
limited  market  for  our  surplus  products.  Some  of  the  best 
markets  we  can  look  to  are  not  far  beyond  our  southern 
border.  They  are  nearer  to  us  than  to  any  other  commer- 
cial nation.  The  people  of  Mexico  and  of  Central  and 
South  America  produce  much  that  we  need,  and  our  abun- 
dant agricultural,  manufactured,  and  mineral  productions 
are  greatly  needed  by  them.  These  countries  cover  an  area 
of  8,118,844  square  miles,  and  have  a  population  of  42,- 
770,374.  Their  people  recognize  the  superiority  of  our 
products,  and  desire  more  intimate  business  intercourse 
with  our  people,  but  the  great  bulk  of  their  commerce  and 
trade  is  with  Europe.  The  Argentine  Republic  has  from 
forty-five  to  sixty  steamships  running  regularly  betvjfen 
Buenos  Ayres  and  European  ports,  and  no  regular  line  be- 
tween that  country  and  the  United  States,  and  our  commer- 
cial facilities  with  the  other  republics  of  Central  and  South 
America  are  about  the  same. 

"  In  1884  our  exports  were  valued  at  $733,768,764. 

"  Of  this  amount  we  exported  but  $64,719,000  to  Mexico 
and  South  and  Central  America. 

"  Our  annual  mechanical  and  agricultural  products  are 
valued  at  $15,000,000,000,  while  we  seldom  have  sold  more 
than  $75,000,000  worth  of  these  products  to  our  nearest 
neighbors,  who  buy  in  Europe  at  least  five  times  as  much 
as  they  get  here. 


2o8  R£CiPROClfY  IN  AMERICA. 

"The  total  commerce  of  the  countries  named  in  1883 
was  as  follows:  Imports,  $331,100,599;  exports,  $391,294,- 
781. 

"Of  the  $331,100,599  of  merchandise  sold  to  those  coun- 
tries, the  share  of  the  United  States  was  only  $42,598,469 ; 
yet  we  are  their  closest  neighbor. 

"  The  disparity  of  our  trade  with  Peru,  Chili,  Argentine 
Republic  and  Brazil  is  both  amazing  and  humiliating. 


To 

Peru  

From  Great 
Britain. 

$6,  2  K  .685 

From  United 
States. 

1743,105 

Chili     

11,060,880 

2,211,007 

20.602.291; 

4.317,293 

Brazil  .  . 

77,046.211; 

7,317,293 

"  The  consumption  of  cotton  goods  in  Central  and  South 
America  and  in  Mexico  amounts  to  nearly  $100,000,000  an- 
n'ually,  and  although  they  are  so  near  our  cotton-fields, 
England  furnishes  about  95  per  cent,  of  these  goods. 

"  Cotton  fabrics  constitute  the  wearing  apparel  of  nearly 
three-fourths  of  those  people,  and  they  have  to  import  all 
they  use. 

"  England  monopolizes  this  trade  because  of  her  cheap 
transportation  facilities,  and  because  her  mills  furnish  goods 
especially  adapted  to  the  wants  and  tastes  of  the  consumers, 
which  our  mills  have  never  attempted  to  produce. 

"  It  is  very  important  that  transportation  facilities  between 
the  United  States  and  her  southern  neighbors  should  be  im- 
proved ;  for  as  long  as  the  freight  from  Liverpool,  Hamburg 
and  Bordeaux  is  $15  a  ton,  they  cannot  be  induced  to  pay 
$40  a  ton  to  bring  merchandise  from  the  United  States. 

"  There  is  not  a  commercial  city  in  these  countries  where 
the  manufacturers  of  the  United  States  cannot  compete  with 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  299 

their  European  rivals  in  every  article  we  produce  for  ex- 
port. 

"  The  report  of  the  South  American  Commission  shows, 
by  the  testimony  of  the  importing  merchants  of  those  coun- 
tries, that  aside  from  the  difference  in  cost  and  convenience 
in  transporting,  it  is  to  their  advantage  to  buy  in  the  United 
States,  because  the  quality  of  our  products  is  superior,  and 
our  prices  are  usually  as  low  as  those  of  Europe." 

AN    OPPOSING   VIEW. 

Mr.  Belmont  presented  a  minority,  and  opposing,  report 
to  the  above  bill.  In  discussing  it  from  a  commercial  stand- 
point, he  made  quite  prominent  a  fact,  if  not  a  principle, 
though  unintended  on  his  part,  that  was  fully  recognized 
when  reciprocity  was  introduced  into  the  Tariff  Act  of  1890. 
He  said : 

"  Nothing  is  now  so  desirable  for  our  own  people  as  a  free 
and  reciprocal  interchange  of  products  between  ourselves  and 
the  people  of  other  nations  on  this  continent.  But  what  now 
hinders  such  free  interchange  so  much  as  our  tariff  laws? 
If  this  Government  shall  invite  Brazil,  Mexico  and  the  Re- 
publics of  Central  America  and  South  America  to  join  us  in 
a  conference  to  promote  such  free  and  reciprocal  interchange 
of  products,  what  concessions  in  our  tariff  schedules  is  the 
President  to  be  authorized  to  instruct  our  commissioners  to 
propose  on  our  part?  The  question  of  our  own  tariff  will 
naturally  and  immediately  come  up  for  discussion  and  con- 
sideration. Shall,  for  example,  our  commissioners  be  au- 
thorized to  offer  to  the  Argentine  Republic  to  admit  its  wool 
into  our  ports  free  of  duty  ? 

"  No  one  can  be  more  sensible  than  I  am  of  the  great  ad- 
vantages which  in  our  country  flow  from  that  free  commer- 
cial intercourse,  unvexed  by  tariffs  or  custom-houses,  which 


5oo  kficipROciTY  IN  AMERICA. 

the  Federal  Constitution  secures.  I  wish  by  some  possible 
and  wise  contrivance  those  advantages  now  enjoyed  by  and 
between  Maine  and  California,  Florida  and  Alaska,  could  be 
realized  by  and  between  every  nation  and  every  producer  on 
this  hemisphere  from  Baffin's  Bay  to  Cape  Horn.  But  is 
this  Government  now  in  condition  to  successfully  ask  in  a 
diplomatic  way  the  accomplishment  of  such  a  result  ?  To 
use  Mr.  Gladstone's  language,  should  we  not  first  of  all 
begin  to  govern  ourselves  in  tariff  matters  with  'justice  and 
moderation?'  And  then,  too,  does  opinion  in  this  House 
tend  to  tolerate  a  reform  or  protective  system  by  treaties  ? 

"  One  of  the  difficulties  with  which  we  in  the  United 
States  have  now  to  contend  is  that,  by  reason  of  our  present 
tariff  laws,  we  cannot  in  our  own  workshops  compete  with 
European  manufacturers,  notwithstanding  the  great  advan- 
tage we  have  from  the  efficiency  of  better  paid  and  better 
educated  labor.  So  long  as  such  tariff  laws  shall  be  main- 
tained it  is  not  believed  that  any  diplomatic  negotiations  will 
enable  the  United  States  to  do  in  the  Dominion  of  Canada, 
or  in  Mexico,  or  in  Central  America,  or  in  South  America 
what  we  cannot  do  at  home — which  is  to  compete  with 
European  manufacturers.  Freedom  to  buy  in  these  com- 
munities we  now  have,  and  we  can  enlarge  its  use  to  any 
degree,  but  freedom  to  sell  to  those  communities  we  can 
only  enlarge  by  producing  equally  good  articles  which  we 
will  sell  at  least  as  cheaply  as  our  European  competitors. 
All  schemes  whatever  for  retaining  a  protective  system  and 
gaining  foreign  markets  are  impossible  of  success,  no  matter 
how  many  railways  we  may  build  or  steamships  we  may 
subsidize.  It  will  be  seen  from  the  statistics  already  given 
that  a  large  part  of  the  products  of  our  neighbors  to  the 
south  of  us  are  now  admitted  at  our  custom-houses  free  of 
duty,  but  the  difficulty  of  increasing  the  exports  of  our 


HON.  JAMES  L.  PUGH. 

Born  in  Burke  co.,  Ga.,  December  12,  1820 ;  moved  early  to  Ala- 
bama, and  received  academic  education ;  admitted  to  bar  in  1841,  and 
acquired  a  lucrative  practice ;  elected  to  36th  Congress,  but  withdrew 
when  State  seceded;  served  in  Confederate  army;  elected  to  Confederate 
Congress,  1861-63;  resumed  law  practice  at  Eufaula ;  member  of  Con- 
vention that  framed  State  Constitution  in  1875 ;  elected  to  U.  S.  Senate 
in  1880;  re-elected  1884  and  1890;  member  of  Committees  on  Educa- 
tion and  Labor,  Judiciary,  Privileges  and  Elections,  Revolutionary 
Claims  and  Canadian  Relations. 

(301) 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  303 

manufactured  products  to  those  countries  remains,  because 
our  protective  tariff  inflicts  what,  owing  to  the  increased 
cost  of  manufacture,  is  in  effect  an  export  tax upon  our  prod- 
ucts, which  frustrates  the  efforts  of  our  enterprising  and 
inventive  people  to  have  more  complete  possession  of  the 
neighboring  markets  upon  this  continent." 

ARGUMENTS    FOR    RECIPROCITY. 

It  was  not  until  May  6,  1886,  that  Senator  Frye's  bill,  be- 
fore alluded  to,  was  reported  to  the  Senate  by  the  Commit- 
tee on  Foreign  Relations.  Its  provisions  were  very  like 
those  of  the  McCreary  bill.  It  was  accompanied  by  a  still 
more  elaborate  report  than  that  in  the  House,  which  report 
included  the  reports  made  from  time  to  time  by  the  com- 
missioners who  had  visited  the  Central  and  South  American 
countries.  This  report,  or,  rather,  these  reports,  left  little 
to  be  added  upon  the  propriety  of  an  international  confer- 
ence, and  the  necessity  for  reciprocity  in  trade  and  com- 
merce. We  first  use  the  language  of  Commissioner 
Thacher : — 

"  The  peculiarities  of  the  Latin  race  in  America  lead  it 
away  from  manufacturing  pursuits.  Valencia  centuries  ago 
imported  wool  from  England  and  returned  it  in  cloths,  but 
the  process  is  now  reversed. 

"  Great  Britain  manufactures  for  the  world,  and  Spain, 
with  all  the  colonies  she  planted,  contributes  to  her  com- 
mercial supremacy. 

"  In  Spain  there  is  cheap  fuel  and  plenty  of  water-power. 
In  Spanish  America,  from  Mexico  to  Magellan,  there  are 
few  coal-fields,  but  almost  everywhere  flowing  streams, 
furnishing  the  cheapest  and  most  abundant  power. 

"  Guatemala,  Costa  Rica,  the  western  slopes  of  the  Andes, 
Uruguay,  and  portions  of  the  Argentine  Republic  have  iw- 


304  RECIPROCITY   IN  AMERICA. 

failing  and  enormous  stores  of  this  easily-used  motor.  Yet 
in  Costa  Rica  I  saw  only  two  water-driven  mills ;  in  Guate- 
mala there  were  a  few  more ;  yet  not  one-thousandth  part 
of  the  water-power  was  utilized.  The  Rimac  for  nearly  70 
miles  is  a  dashing  cascade,  with  only  a  tannery,  a  brewery, 
and  possibly  a  few  other  industries  at  Lima  holding  in  check 
for  a  few  minutes  its  rushing  flood. 

"  Chili  in  the  Mopocho  and  the  Maipo  has  powerful 
streams,  and  hundreds  of  smaller  water-courses  find  their 
way  to  the  ocean. 

"  The  report  from  Uruguay  calls  attention  to  its  internal 
water-power,  and  the  statements  submitted  with  the  report 
from  the  Argentine  Republic  show  how  immense  is  the 
water-power  in  the  Gran  Chaco  region. 

"  We  must  conclude,  then,  that  the  want  of  manufactured 
products  in  these  countries  grows  out  of  either  or  both  of  two 
causes ;  the  one  a  disinclination  to  take  up  the  patient, 
steady  routine  of  daily  toil  necessary  to  successful  manu- 
facturing, and  the  other  a  greater  profitableness  in  other 
more  congenial  pursuits. 

"  Without  dwelling  on  the  point,  I  may  say  that  it  is  safe 
to  aver  that  these  countries  will  for  years  be  great  consumers 
of  foreign  manufactured  goods. 

"  In  Chili  the  war  with  Peru  demoralized  the  soldiers, 
many  of  whom  were  taken  from  the  ordinary  pursuits,  and, 
returning  from  their  conquest,  failed  to  take  up  the  peaceful 
avocations  they  left ;  and  yet  Chili  is  beyond  doubt  in  manu- 
factories the  New  England  of  South  America.  The  special 
report  on  this  country  fully  covers  this  question. 

"  In  any  trade  relations  we  may  establish  with  those  coun- 
tries we  may  reasonably  count  on  the  permanence  of  the 
demand  for  our  goods. 

"  The  larger  portion  of  the  commerce  we  are  seeking  has 


RECIPROCITY   IN  AMERICA.  305 

been  in  the  hands  of  Great  Britain,  but  of  recent  years 
another,  and  what  promises  to  be  a  more  formidable  rival, 
has  come  to  the  front. 

"The  German  manufacturers,  intrenched  behind  encour- 
aging and  protecting  legislative  walls,  have  pushed  their 
products  far  beyond  the  home  demand.  Always  sure  of 
their  own  market  without  competition,  they  have  turned 
their  unflagging  energies  to  secure  centers  of  trade  in  the 
Western  Hemisphere.  They  are  clever  imitators  of  every 
new  invention,  of  every  improved  machine,  and  of  many  of 
the  most  useful  and  popular  goods  produced  in  the  United 
States.  They  send  out  counterfeits  of  the  famous  '  Collins ' 
wares,  even  to  the  very  brand ;  they  make  mowers  and 
agricultural  implements  as  nearly  like  ours  as  possible.  Our 
sewing-machines  are  copied  by  these  people,  and  the  imita- 
tions are  palmed  off  on  the  South  American  trade  as  com- 
ing from  the  United  States.  The  character  and  ways  of 
these  new  rivals  for  the  trade  of  our  neighbors  is  thus  graph- 
ically portrayed  by  our  former  consul-general  in  Mexico, 
Mr.  Strother,  and  I  may  add  that  what  the  German  is  in 
Mexico  he  is  in  all  the  other  Central  and  South  American 
nations. 

"  General  Strother  says : 

" '  For  the  rest  it  will  still  remain  with  American  manu- 
facturers and  merchants  to  solve  the  question  of  successful 
competition  with  their  European  rivals,  the  most  formidable 
of  whom  at  present  are  the  Germans,  whose  commercial 
establishments  are  more  substantially  planted  and  more 
widely  extended  than  those  of  any  other  foreign  nation. 
And  it  may  be  well  here  to  note  their  methods  and  the 
causes  of  their  success.  The  German  who  comes  to  Mexico 
to  establish  himself  in  business  is  carefully  educated  for  the 
purpose,  not  only  in  the  special  branch  which  he  proposes 


306  RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

to  follow,  but  he  is  also  an  accomplished  linguist,  being 
generally  able  to  converse  and  correspond  in  the  four  great 
commercial  languages — German,  English,  French,  and  Span- 
ish. His  enterprise  is  usually  backed  by  large  capital  in  the 
mother  country.  He  does  not  come  to  speculate,  or  inflated 
with  the  hope  of  acquiring  sudden  fortune,  but  expecting  to 
succeed  in  time  by  close  attention,  patient  labor  and  economy, 
looking  forward  twenty,  thirty,  or  even  forty  years  for  the 
realization  of  his  hopes.  He  builds  up  his  business  as  one 
builds  a  house,  brick  by  brick,  and  with  a  solid  foundation. 
He  can  brook  delays,  give  long  credits,  sustain  reverses,  and 
tide  over  dull  times.  He  never  meddles  with  the  politics  of 
the  country ;  keeps  on  good  terms  with  its  governors,  who- 
ever they  may  be.  He  rarely  makes  complaints  through 
his  minister  or  consul,  but  if  caught  evading  the  revenue 
laws,  or  in  other  illegal  practices,  he  pays  his  fine  and  goes 
on  with  his  business.  With  these  methods  and  character- 
istics, the  German  merchant  generally  succeeds  in  securing 
wealth  and  the  respect  of  any  community  in  which  he  may 
have  established  himself.' 

"  In  a  conversation  with  the  British  minister,  Sir  Spencer 
St.  John,  in  Mexico,  he  observed  to  me  that  the  success  of 
the  Germans  in  dealing  with  the  revenue  officials  and  in 
pushing  their  trade  had  driven  out  of  Mexico  every  whole- 
sale English  house,  whereas  the  foreign  commerce  was  once 
largely  in  the  hands  of  his  countrymen. 

"  In  passing  from  this  point  we  must  not  forget  that  not- 
withstanding all  this  copying  of  our  productions  by  the 
German  manufacturer,  yet  the  deception  deceives  few,  and 
that  were  the  markets  open  to  our  dealers  the  superior 
material,  workmanship,  and  fidelity  of  our  goods  would  defy 
all  competition. 

"  The  French,  equally  protected  by  home  legislation  and 


HON.  JOHN  M.  PALMER. 

Born  In  Scott  co.,  Ky.,  September  13,  1817  ;  moved  to  Illinois,  1831 ; 
studied  at  Alton  College;  admitted  to  bar,  1839;  elected  Probate  Judge 
of  Macoupin  co.,  1843;  member  of  Constitutional  Convention,  1847; 
elected  County  Judge,  1848 ;  elected  to  State  Senate,  1852;  elected  to 
State  Senate,  1855,  as  Anti-Nebraska  Democrat ;  Delegate  to  Republican 
National  Convention,  1856 ;  candidate  for  Congress,  1859,  on  Republican 
ticket  and  defeated ;  member  of  Peace  Conference,  1861 ;  entered  Union 
army  (1861)  as  Colonel  of  14th  Illinois  Regiment ;  promoted  to  Brigadier 
General,  1861;  promoted  to  Major  General,  1863;  commanded  14th 
Army  Corps,  1863 ;  operated  on  Mississippi,  with  army  of  Cumberland 
and  with  Sherman  to  Atlanta ;  elected  Governor  of  Illinois,  1868 ; 
nominated  for  Governor  on  Democratic  ticket,  1888,  and  defeated; 
elected  U.  S.  Senator,  as  Democrat,  1891. 

(3°7) 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  309 

alive  to  the  wants  of  the  South  American  markets,  are  in- 
creasing their  trade  there. 

"  Indeed  we  must  meet  in  the  ports  of  our  neighbors  the 
wares  of  many  of  the  European  countries,  all  of  which  are 
borne  to  their  destination  in  vessels  flying  their  own 
national  ensign." 

FURTHER   ARGUMENTS. 

Mr.  Reynolds,  another  of  the  Commissioners,  discussed  the 
reciprocal  trade  idea  still  more  ably  and  exhaustively,  and 
in  fact  left  the  matter  in  such  shape  as  that  the  system  of 
practical  reciprocity  incorporated  into  the  Act  of  1890  was 
the  inevitable  outcome  of  his  logic.  He  says: 

"Among  the  means  to  secure  more  intimate  commer- 
cial relations  between  the  United  States  and  the  several 
countries  of  Central  and  South  America,  suggested  in  the 
first  report  of  the  Commission  to  those  States  (transmitted 
by  the  President  to  Congress  on  February  13,  1885,  and 
printed  as  Ex.  Doc.  No.  226),  were  the  following  (p.  4) : 
'  Commercial  treaties  with  actual  and  equivalent  reciprocal 
concessions  in  tariff  duties.'  As  the  words  '  actual  and  equiv- 
alent, were  adopted  at  my  suggestion,  an  explanation  of 
their  full  force  may  not  be  superfluous.  A  stipulation  in  a 
treaty  that  certain  products  of  one  country  shall  be  admitted 
free,  or  at  a  reduced  duty,  into  another  country,  may,  on 
paper,  appear  to  offer  a  reciprocal  concession  for  a  like  ad- 
mission of  certain  other  products  of  the  latter  country  into 
the  former.  But  the  seeming  effect  of  it  may  be  neutralized 
in  various  ways,  so  that  it  will  be,  to  the  one  country  or  the 
other,  not  an  actual  concession.  Chief  among  those  ways 
are,  the  existence  of  treaties  with  other  nations,  placing 
them  on  the  footing  of  the  '  most  favored  nation,'  export 
duties,  home  bounties,  drawbacks,  monopolies,  and  muni- 
M 


3 TO  RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

cipal  or  other  local  taxation.  The  skill  of  the  diplomatist, 
aided  by  information  from  consuls,  merchants,  shippers,  and 
other  experts  in  the  question,  should  be  exerted  to  frame 
the  treaty  so  as  to  prevent  the  defeat  of  its  real  object  by 
such  collateral  disadvantages  and  burdens.  To  explain  them, 
or  point  out  modes  of  removing  them,  severally,  would 
unduly  extend  the  length  of  this  letter. 

"  But  one  of  them,  the  '  most  favored  nation  clause,'  de- 
serves special  consideration.  It  is  understood  that  Great 
Britain,  Germany,  and  probably  other  countries,  claim  that 
a  reciprocity  treaty  with  the  United  States  by  a  Spanish 
American  country  applies  to  them,  under  that  clause  in  their 
treaties  with  the  last-mentioned  country,  with  the  same 
effect  as  if  their  names  had  been  in  the  treaty  instead  of  or 
along  with  that  of  the  United  States.  For  example,  should 
the  United  States,  resuming  import  duties  on  coffee,  grant 
to  Brazil  freedom  from  them,  on  the  '  reciprocal  concession  ' 
that  flour  and  certain  American  manufactures  should  be 
admitted  free  into  that  Empire,  Great  Britain,  which  con- 
sumes very  little  coffee  of  any  kind,  and  probably  none  from 
Brazil,  would  claim  the  same  freedom  for  her  like  manufact- 
ures. Thus,  in  return  for  our  being  customers  of  Brazil, 
in  coffee  to  the  amount  of  about  $50,000,000  annually,  Great 
Britain,  offering  no  '  equivalent '  concession  in  fact,  would 
still  be  able  to  drive  (or  rather,  keep)  us  out  of  the  Brazil- 
ian market  for  those  manufactures  which  she  can  supply 
more  cheaply  or  with  greater  facility  through  her  lines  of 
steamers. 

"  After  much  thought  on  the  subject,  I  have  found  no 
surer  mode  of  making  reciprocity  '  equivalent '  than  by  ex- 
pressing in  the  treaty  itself,  and  as  a  condition  of  it,  the  real 
object  of  every  reciprocity  treaty,  the  actual  and  equivalent 
increase  of  the  commerce  between  the  parties  to  it.  For 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  3rr 

illustration,  should  the  United  States  make  a  reciprocity  treaty 
with  Spain  for  certain  concessions  designed  to  increase  our 
exports  to  Cuba,  in  consideration  of  a  reduction  of  our  du- 
ties on  Cuban  sugars,  the  treaty  should  provide,  that  that 
reduction  should  exist  only  as  long  as  Cuba  imported  from 
the  United  States  at  least  a  certain  fixed  amount  in  value 
annually,  and  Spain  might  justly  require  a  like  condition  as 
to  the  annual  amount  of  our  imports  of  Cuban  sugars.  The 
custom-house  returns  of  the  two  countries  would  readily  fix 
the  respective  amounts,  and  the  reciprocity  of  the  treaty, 
whenever  it  ceased  to  be  actual  and  equivalent,  could  be 
suspended  by  a  proclamation  of  the  President,  on  due  notice 
to  be  provided  for  in  the  treaty. 

"  As  it  is  undeniable,  and  even  generally  admitted,  that 
the  '  most  favored  nation  clause  '  entitles  a  country  having 
the  privilege  of  it  to  be  merely  '  on  all  fours '  with  any  other 
nation,  and  share  the  advantages  of  it  only  on  the  identical 
conditions  accompanying  them,  such  a  proviso  as  that  above 
mentioned  would  effectually  block  the  diplomatic  game 
which  Germany  is  understood  to  have  played  upon  us  in 
Mexico,  by  claiming  for  herself  the  benefits  of  our  recent 
reciprocity  treaty  with  that  Republic.  Taking,  in  fact,  no 
sugar  and  little  tobacco  or  anything  else  from  Mexico,  she 
sagaciously  offers  to  remit  her  duties  on  them,  and  claims 
for  her  exports  to  that  Republic,  mainly  in  manufactureSt 
the  same  concessions  it  made  to  the  United  States  in  order 
to  increase  the  exports  of  its  own  products  to  our  country. 
With  such  a  proviso  as  that  above  suggested,  Germany  would 
be  beaten  on  her  own  diplomatic  ground.  Mexico  would 
be  obligated  by  the  '  most  favored  nation  clause  '  only  to 
offer  to  Germany  the  same  treaty,  mutatis  mutandis,  her 
name  taking  the  place  of  that  of  the  United  States.  As  her 
imports  from  Mexico  would  not  compare  with  ours,  such  a. 


3i2  RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

treaty  would  give  her  no  actual  advantage  over  us.  So, 
also,  with  Cuba  in  her  commerce  with  Germany,  and  prob- 
ably, also,  with  Great  Britain  and  France.  No  one  of 
those  countries  (France  and  Germany  making  their  own  beet- 
root sugar,  and  Great  Britain  being  supplied  principally  by 
her  own  colonies)  would  be  able  to  take  from  Cuba  the 
amount  of  sugars  which  would  be  the  treaty  '  equivalent ' 
for  the  concessions  made  to  the  United  States. 

"Another  important  consideration  in  deciding  what  kind 
of  a  reciprocity  treaty  to  make,  or  whether  to  make  it  at  all, 
is  the  effect  it  would  have  on  some  equally  advantageous 
indirect  trade.  By  driving  out  of  some  South  American 
market  some  other  country  which  trades  with  us,  we  may 
diminish  the  purchasing  power  of  that  country  in  our  own 
markets,  and  increased  indirect  trade  with  the  former  may 
not  compensate  us  for  a  loss  of  trade  with  the  latter.  In 
this  connection,  the  effect  of  several  misused  terms  is  to  be 
deprecated.  Generally  when  our  imports  from  and  exports 
to  any  particular  country  do  not  balance  at  all,  the  very  bad 
English  is^common  of  speaking  of  a  '  balance  of  trade  '  for 
or  against  us.  It  is  refreshing  to  notice  that  in  the  reports 
of  our  Bureau  of  Statistics  that  improper  phrase  is  discarded, 
and  the  difference  between  exports  and  imports  is  described 
as  an  excess  of  one  over  the  other.  An  excess  of  imports 
over  exports  in  a  particular  venture  may  represent  a  gain, 
and  not  a  loss.  A  familiar  illustration  is  that  of  a  Boston 
ship  which,  in  former  times,  would  take  a  cargo  belonging 
to  the  ship's  owner,  worth,  say,  $100,000,  to  China,  and  re- 
turn with  one,  also  belonging  to  the  same  owner,  worth 
twice  the  amount.  The  difference,  being  the  returns  for  the 
expenses  of  the  voyage,  the  profit  in  China  on  the  original 
venture,  and  that  in  Boston  on  the  return  cargo,  would  be 
all  gain,  The  same  may  be  the  case  with  the  entire  com- 


HON.   THOMAS  B.   KEED. 

Born  at  Portland,  Maine,  October  18,  1839 ;  graduated  at  Bowdoin, 
1860;  studied  law  and  admitted  to  bar;  Assistant  Paymaster  in  Navy, 
1864-65 ;  member  of  State  House  of  Representatives,  1868-69,  and  of 
Senate,  187C  ;  Attorney  General  of  Maine,  1870-72  ;  Solicitor  of  Port- 
land, 1874-77 ;  elected,  as  a  Republican,  to  45th,  46th,  47th,  48th,  49th, 
50th  and  52d  Congresses ;  elected  and  presided  as  Speaker  of  House  in 
51st  Congress;  an  able  and  efficient  parliamentarian;  his  decision  as  to 
actual  presence  and  constructive  absence  in  counting  a  quorum  was  sus- 
tained by  the  U.  S.  Supreme  Court ;  a  writer  and  speaker  of  originality 
and  force. 

(314) 


merce  of  one  country  with  another,  as  could  be  amply  shown 
from  the  statistics  of  British  trade  with  Asia,  given  in  Mr. 
Frelinghuysen's  letter  on  the  '  Commerce  of  the  world.' 
Of  course,  in  some  other  special  case  it  might  be  otherwise. 

"Another  very  general  error  is  to  treat  an  excess  of  im- 
ports over  exports  in  our  trade  with  a  particular  country  as 
a  difference  which  we  pay  in  cash.  This  is  rarely,  if  ever, 
the  case.  It  is  usually  paid  in  exchange  on  some  other 
country,  obtained  by  selling  to  it  our  own  products.  Brazil 
affords  a  very  fair  illustration.  We  take  from  that  Empire 
directly  products  many  millions  in  value  in  excess  of  what  we 
send  directly  to  it.  That  excess  is  paid  for  by  exchange  on 
London,  based  on  our  exports  of  provisions,  cotton,  etc.,  and 
with  that  exchange  the  Brazilian  pays  for  English  manufac- 
tures to  be  sent  to  Rio.  The  indirect  trade  may  be  differ- 
ent. The  Englishman  may  sell  his  manufactures  in  Brazil, 
convert  the  proceeds  directly,  or  indirectly  by  purchase  of 
exchange,  into  coffee,  with  the  proceeds  of  which  in  New 
York  he  purchases  provisions  to  be  sent  to  England.  In 
either  case  the  result  is  the  same.  England  gains  some 
profit  in  exchange,  as  London  is  the  world's  money  centre, 
and  in  freights  which  her  ships  carry.  But  to  the  extent  to 
which  England  is  crippled  in  h:r  sales  to  Brazil,  her  pur- 
chasing power  in  our  provision  markets  may  be  diminished. 

"  Therefore,  before  making  a  re,  iprocity  treaty,  we  should 
carefully  consider,  in  each  particular  case,  whether,  even 
with  the  profits  in  exchange  and  shipping  in  a  direct  trade, 
we  may  not  be  losing  a  more  profitable  commerce  in  a  dif- 
ferent direction,  by  diminishing  the  power  of  others  of  our 
regular  customers  to  purchase  products  from  us." 

A   STILL   FURTHER    VIEW. 

Mr.  Curtis,  Secretary  of  the  Commission  and  afterwards  a 


3i6  RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

Commissioner,  added  a  very  interesting  report,  which  still 
further  elaborated  the  necessity  for  reciprocal  trade.  He 
said : — 

"  During  the  last  twenty  years  the  value  of  the  exports 
from  the  United  States  to  the  Spanish  Americans  was 
$442,048,975,  and  during  that  time  we  purchased  of  them 
raw  products  to  the  amount  of  $1,185,828,579,  showing  an 
excess  of  imports  during  the  twenty  years  amounting  to 
$765,992,219,  which  was  paid  in  cash.  It  will  thus  be  seen 
that  our  commerce  with  Central  and  South  America  has  left 
a  very  large  balance  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  ledger,  while 
those  countries  have  all  the  time  been  buying  in  Europe  the 
very  merchandise  we  have  for  sale.  Being  the  very  reverse 
of  the  United  States  in  climate  and  resources,  they  constitute 
our  natural  commercial  allies,  and  the  exchange  should  at 
least  be  even  ;  but  they  sell  their  raw  products  here  and  buy 
their  manufactured  articles  in  Europe.  The  principal  reason 
for  this  is  that  the  carrying  trade  is  in  the  hands  of  English- 
men. The  statistics  show,  that,  of  the  total  imports  into 
the  United  States  from  Spanish  America,  which,  in  1884, 
amounted  to  $159,000,000,  three-fourths  were  carried  in 
foreign  vessels.  Of  our  exports  to  those  countries,  amount- 
ing last  year  to  $64,000,000,  $46,000,000  were  carried  in 
American  vessels,  while  only  $18,000,000  were  carried  by 
foreign  vessels.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  nearly  everything 
we  buy  is  brought  to  us  from  Spanish  America  by  English- 
men, while  nearly  everything  we  sell  we  have  to  carry  there 
ourselves.  The  logic  of  these  facts  is  irresistible. 

"  The  most  absurd  spectacle  in  the  commercial  world  is 
the  trade  we  carry  on  with  Brazil.  We  buy  nearly  all  her 
raw  products,  while  she  spends  the  money  we  pay  for  them 
in  England  and  France. 

"In   1884,  of  the  exports  of  Brazil  $50,266,000  went  to 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  317 

the  United  States,  $29,000,000  to  England,  and  $24,000,000 
to  France.  Of  the  imports  of  Brazil  in  1884,  $35,000,000 
came  from  England,  $15,000,000  from  France,  and  $8,000,000 
from  the  United  States. 

"  Another  peculiar  feature  of  this  commerce  was  that  of 
the  exports  of  Brazil  to  the  United  States  $32,000,000  were 
carried  in  English  vessels  and  $9,000,000  in  American 
vessels,  while  of  her  imports  from  the  United  States 
$6,000,000  were  carried  in  American  vessels  and  only 
$2,000,000  in  English  vessels.  The  trade  is  carried  on  by 
triangular  voyages.  Two  lines  of  steamships  sailing  under 
the  British  flag  load  every  week  at  Rio  for  New  York. 
Arriving  at  the  latter  port  they  place  their  cargoes  of  coffee 
and  hides  in  the  hands  of  commission  merchants,  and  sail 
for  Europe,  where  they  draw  against  these  consignments, 
and  buy  Manchester  cotton,  Birmingham  hardware,  and 
other  goods  which  they  carry  to  Brazil.  During  the  last 
twenty  years  this  absurd  spectacle  has  cost  the  United 
States  $600,000,000,  every  cent  of  which  has  gone  into  the 
pockets  of  English  and  French  manufacturers.  We  have 
not  only  paid  for  the  goods  that  England  has  sold  Brazil, 
but  as  we  have  had  no  banking  connections  with  that  coun- 
try and  no  ships  on  the  sea,  nearly  every  ton  of  this  com- 
merce has  paid  a  tax  to  English  bankers  and  vessel-owners. 

"  Several  years  ago,  when  we  removed  the  import  tax  on 
coffee,  Brazil  put  an  export  duty  on,  so  that  the  attempt  of 
Congress  to  secure  a  cheap  breakfast  for  the  workingman 
simply  resulted  in  diverting  several  million  dollars  from  the 
treasury  of  the  United  States  into  the  treasury  of  Brazil, 
without  changing  the  price  of  the  article.  Mexico  and  the 
countries  washed  by  the  Caribbean  Sea  produce  a  better 
quality  of  coffee  than  is  grown  in  Brazil,  and  if  the  United 
States  Government  would  consent  to  discriminate  against 


3i8  RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

Brazilian  coffee,  raised  by  slave  labor,  the  nations  of  Central 
America  and  the  Spanish  Main  would  reciprocate  by  ad- 
mitting free  to  their  ports  our  flour,  lumber,  provisions, 
lard,  dairy  products,  kerosene,  and  other  articles  which  are 
now  kept  from  the  common  people  by  an  almost  prohibitory 
tariff. 

"  Brazil  is  in  such  a  critical  condition,  financially  and  com- 
mercially, that  if  we  did  not  buy  her  coffee  it  would  rot  on 
the  trees,  and  the  Englishmen  who  control  her  foreign  com- 
merce would  have  to  close  their  warehouses  and  throw  all 
the  Brazilian  planters  into  the  bankrupt  court.  These  Eng- 
lishmen have  secured  mortgages  upon  the  plantations  of 
Brazil  by  supplying  the  planters  with  merchandise  on  credit 
and  taking  the  crop  at  the  end  of  the  season  in  payment ; 
but  as  the  crop  seldom  pays  the  advances,  the  mortgages 
have  been  lapping  over  upon  the  plantations,  until  now  the 
Englishmen  have  the  Brazilians  by  the  throat,  making  their 
own  terms,  charging  one  profit  on  the  merchandise  sold, 
another  as  interest  on  the  advances,  a  third  on  the  coffee 
purchased,  and  a  fourth  as  interest  on  payments  deferred, 
while  they  make  three  profits  out  of  us  :  first,  on  coffee  they 
sell,  us;  second,  on  transportation  charges;  third,  in  dis- 
counting our  bills  on  London. 

"  The  greater  part  of  our  exports  to  Spanish  America  go 
to  Mexico  and  the  West  Indies.  Deducting  these  from  the 
total,  it  will  be  found  that  we  buy  over  30  per  cent,  of  what 
the  South  American  countries  have  for  sale,  and  furnish 
them  only  6  per  cent,  of  their  imports.  The  balance  of 
trade  goes  on  piling  up  at  the  rate  of  nearly  $  1 00,000,000  a 
year.  This  was  not  always  so.  Twenty  years  ago  more 
than  half  the  commerce  of  this  hemisphere  was  controlled 
by  the  merchants  of  New  York,  Boston,  and  Baltimore,  and 
more  than  half  the  ships  in  its  harbors  sailed  from  those 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  $t$ 

ports.  Now  only  a  small  percentage  of  the  carrying  trade 
is  done  in  American  bottoms,  while  English  ship-owners 
who  control  the  transportation  facilities  permit  the  Spanish- 
American  merchants  to  buy  in  this  country  only  such  goods 
as  they  cannot  obtain  elsewhere. 

"  The  cause  of  this  astonishing  phenomenon  is  our  neglect 
to  furnish  the  ways  and  means  of  commerce.  We  can  no 
more  prevent  trade  following  facilities  for  communication 
than  we  can  repeal  the  law  of  gravity.  While  we  have  been 
pointing  with  pride  at  our  internal  development,  England 
and  France  have  been  stealing  our  markets  away  from  us. 
The  problem  of  recovering  them  is  easy  of  solution.  The 
States  of  Central  and  South  America  will  buy  what  we  have 
to  sell  if  intelligent  measures  are  used  to  cultivate  the  mar- 
kets and  means  are  provided  for  the  delivery  of  the  goods. 

"The  Spanish-American  nations  seek  political  intimacy 
with  the  United  States,  and  look  to  this,  the  mother  of  re- 
publics, for  example  and  encouragement.  They  recognize 
and  assert  the  superiority  of  our  products.  They  offer  and 
pay  subsidies  to  our  ships.  Brazil  now  pays  $100,000  a 
year  as  a  subsidy  to  an  American  steamship  line,  while  the 
United  States  Government  paid  only  $4,000  last  year  to 
the  same  line  for  carrying  our  mails.  The  Argentine  Re- 
public had  a  law  upon  its  statute-books  representing  a  stand- 
ing offer  of  a  subsidy  of  96,000  silver  dollars  a  year  to  any 
company  that  will  establish  a  steamship  line  between 
Buenos  Ayres  and  New  York,  under  the  American  flag, 
and  at  the  same  time  has  twenty-one  lines  of  steamships, 
sailing  from  forty-five  to  sixty  vessels  a  month,  between 
Buenos  Ayres  and  the  ports  of  Europe,  to  which  it  pays 
nothing.  We  have  no  steamship  communication  with  the 
Argentine  Republic  whatever.  During  the  last  year,  out 
of  the  millions  of  tons  of  shipping  represented  in  the  harbor 


320  RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

of  that  metropolis,  there  were  no  steamers  from  the  United 
States,  and  our  flag  was  seen  upon  but  2  per  cent,  of  the 
sailing  vessels.  Here  is  a  nation  purchasing  in  Europe 
$70,000,000  worth  of  merchandise  every  year,  and  only 
spending  about  $4,000,000  in  the  United  States,  and  these 
$4,000,000  represent  articles,  such  as  petroleum,  lumber, 
lard  and  other  pork  products,  which  could  not  elsewhere  be 
obtained." 

THE  INTERNATIONAL  CONFERENCE. 

The  Senate  passed  the  Frye  bill  on  June  17,  1886,  but  it 
did  not  become  a  law  until  May  24,  1888,  when  the 
INTERNATIONAL  AMERICAN  CONFERENCE  became  a  possi- 
bility. 

It  was  for  this  Conference  to  give  wider,  fuller,  more 
learned  and  disinterested  consideration  to  the  question  of 
trade  relations  and  reciprocal  commerce  between  the 
American  nations  than  ever  before.  It  was  called  by  the 
President  to  meet  in  Washington,  October  2,  1889.  Invita- 
tions were  duly  issued,  and  the  Conference  met  with  dele- 
gates present  from  Argentine,  Bolivia,  Brazil,  Chili, 
Colombia,  Costa  Rica,  Ecuador,  Guatemala,  Hayti,  Hon- 
duras, Mexico,  Nicaragua,  Paraguay,  Peru,  Salvador,  United 
States,  Uruguay,  Venezuela. 

Hon.  James  G.  Blaine  was  elected  President  of  the  Con- 
ference. It  remained  in  session  until  April,  1890,  and  dis- 
cussed and  reported  upon  all  the  subjects  prescribed  in  the 
Act  authorizing  the  call,  to  wit : — 

Plan  of  Arbitration  ;  Reciprocity  Treaties  ;  Inter-Conti- 
nental Railway ;  Steamship  Communication ;  Sanitary 
Regulations  ;  Customs  Regulations  ;  Common  Silver  Coin  ; 
Patents  and  Trade  Marks ;  Weights  and  Measures ;  Port 
Dues ;  International  Laws ;  Extradition  Treaties ;  Inter- 
national Bank. 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  321 

In  the  discussions  upon  "  Reciprocity  Treaties,"  all  ol 
which  were  very  able  and  interesting,  two  lines  of  thought 
appeared.  That  which  represented  all  of  the  countries  ex- 
cept Argentine  and  Chili,  was  in  the  direction  of  reci- 
procity, whose  advantages  were  conceded,  and  whose 
practical  operation  needed  but  the  encouragement  of  some 
acceptable  concession  on  the  part  of  the  United  States. 
The  thought  of  Argentine  and  Chili  seemed  to  be  that  reci- 
procity was  impracticable,  unless  enlarged  to  suit  the 
world,  and  that  the  United  States  was  not  yet  so  commer- 
cially strong,  or  was  too  hampered  with  her  tariff  system  to 
offer  the  necessary  concessions  to  all  the  nations.  The 
attitude  and  the  logic  of  these  two  States  were  fully  met  by 
the  delegates  of  the  United  States  in  the  Conference,  show- 
ing in  detail  that  the  first  stage  of  national  growth  is  agri- 
cultural, the  second  is  manufacturing,  and  the  third  is  com- 
mercial. The  first  two  stages  with  us  have  been  reached, 
and  we  now  enter  upon  the  third.  The  same  restless 
energy,  the  same  enterprise,  and  the  same  inventive  genius 
which  gave  success  to  agriculture  and  manufactures  will 
mark  the  development  of  commerce. 

"  The  spirit  of  enterprise  begins  to  spread  like  contagion 
into  Central  America.  Imagination  already  paints  on  her 
canals  the  commerce  of  the  wot  Id.  The  locomotive  is 
there  a  messenger  of  peace,  the  steel  rail  a  bond  of  friend- 
ship. 

"  Colombia  and  Venezuela  and  Brazil  and  Ecuador  and 
Peru  already  feel  the  irresistible  impulse  which  impels  to  a 
closer  union.  The  Argentine  and  Chili  may  hesitate  for  a 
time,  but  finally  they  too  will  join  hands  with  their  sister 
Republics,  and  joyfully  assist  to  fulfil  the  bright  destiny 
that  awaits  us  all." 


322  RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

CONFERENCE    REPORT   AND    ELAINE'S    REVIEW. 

The  Conference  adopted  a  Report  which  recognized  the 
policy  of  reciprocity  and  the  "  need  of  closer  and  more  re- 
ciprocal commercial  relations  among  American  States." 
Secretary  Blaine  submitted  this  Report  to  the  President, 
June  19,  1890,  with  an  exhaustive  review  of  its  contents. 
This  review  was  so  exhaustive,  and  is,  moreover,  such  an 
important  part  of  the  literature  of  reciprocity,  that  inability  to 
publish  it  here  in  full,  for  lack  of  space,  is  greatly  regretted. 
But  its  gist  was  that  out  of  a  total  of  $233,000,000  imports 
furnished  to  Chili  and  Argentine  alone  in  1888,  England 
contributed  $90,000,000,  Germany  $43,000,000,  France 
$34,000,000,  the  United  States  only  $13,000,000,  and  this, 
notwithstanding  the  facts  that  our  ports  were  nearest,  and 
the  bulk  of  those  imports  were  of  articles  we  were  actually 
manufacturing  better  and  as  cheaply  as  foreign  nations. 

That  in  1868  our  total  exports  were  $375,737,000,  of 
which  $53,197,000,  or  14  per  cent.,  went  to  Spanish  America, 
while  in  1888  our  total  exports  were  $742,368,000,  of  which 
$69,273,000,  or  only  9  per  cent.,  went  to  Spanish  America. 

That  it  was  the  unanimous  judgment  of  the  delegates 
that  our  exports  to  these  countries  and  the  other  Republics 
could  be  increased  to  a  great  extent  by  the  negotiations  of 
proper  reciprocity  treaties. 

That  lack  of  means  for  reaching  their  markets  was  the 
chief  obstacle  in  the  way  of  increased  exports.  The  carry - 
Jng  trade  has  been  controlled  by  European  merchants  who 
have  forbidden  an  exchange  of  commodities.  Under  liberal 
encouragement  from  the  government  and  the  establishment 
of  regular  steamship  lines,  France  increased  her  exports  to 
South  America  from  $8,292,000  in  1880  to  $22,996,000  in 
1888.  By  the  same  means  Germany  increased  her  exports 


HON.  ROGER  Q.    MILLS. 

Born  in  Salem,  Kentucky,  in  1832;  when  seventeen  years  of  age  he 
emigrated  to  Texas;  he  became  a  lawyer,  and  when  twenty-seven  years 
of  age  was  elected  to  the  Texas  Legislature ;  nt  the  breaking  out  of  the 
civil  war  he  joined  the  Southern  army  as  Colonel  of  a  regiment  of 
infantry;  he  was  wounded  a  number  of  times,  though  not  seriously,  and, 
returning  to  his  home  at  Corsicana,  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion ;  in  1872  he  was  elected  to  Congress  on  the  Democratic  ticket,  and 
has  been  returned  at  every  subsequent  election.  His  majority  at  the 
last  election  was  over  16,000;  Mr.  Mills  was  always  a  tariff  reformer, 
and  he  was  entrusted  by  Speaker  Carlisle  in  the  Fiftieth  Congress  with 
the  task  of  framing  a  tariff  bill,  which  was  the  issue  of  the  campaign  of 
1888,  in  which  the  Democrats  were  defeated  ;  Mr.  Mills  was  a  candi- 
date for  Speaker  for  the  present  House,  but  Mr.  Crisp  secured  the  prize; 
elected  to  U.  S.  Senate,  March  22,  1892,  by  unanimous  vote  of  Texas 
Legislature. 

(323) 


RECIPROCITY  IN   AMERICA.  325 

to  South  America  from  $2,365,000  in  1880  to  $13,310,000 
in  1888. 

That  the  Conference  believes  that  while  great  profit  would 
come  to  all  countries  under  reciprocity  treaties,  the  United 
States  would  be  far  the  greatest  gainer,  and  that  especially 
since  87  per  cent,  of  our  imports  from  those  countries  came 
in  duty  free,  while  nearly  all  our  exports  to  them  were 
heavily  dutiable  at  their  ports,  in  some  cases  to  the  extent 
of  prohibition. 

That  increased  exports  would  draw  alike  from  our  farms, 
factories  and  forests,  such  being  the  character  of  the  articles 
required  by  those  countries.  A  steamer  load  from  New 
York  to  Rio  Janeiro,  which  was  traced  to  its  origin,  as  to 
the  articles  which  comprised  it,  showed  that  thirty-six  of 
our  States  and  Territories  had  contributed  to  the  cargo. 

That,  excepting  raw  cotton,  our  four  largest  exports  are 
breadstuffs,  provisions,  petroleum  and  lumber.  In  1889 
our  export  of  these  articles  was : — Breadstuff's,  $123,876,- 
423,  of  which  only  $5,123,528  went  to  Latin  America;  Pro- 
visions, $104,122,328,  of  which  only  $2,507,375  went 
thither;  Petroleum,  $44,830,424,  of  which  $2,948,149  went 
thither;  Lumber,  $26,907,000,  of  which  $5,039,886  went 
thither.  Since  the  United  States  is  almost  the  only  source 
of  supply  for  these  articles,  which  rank  as  necessaries  of 
life,  and  there  are  50,000,000  of  population  in  Latin 
America,  the  advantages  of  a  direct  and  larger  trade  are 
apparent. 

That  fifteen  of  the  seventeen  Republics  in  the  Conference 
indicated  their  desire  to  enter  upon  reciprocal  commercial 
relations  with  the  United  States;  the  remaining  two  ex- 
pressed equal  willingness,  could  they  be  assured  that  their 
advances  would  be  favorably  considered. 

That  to  "  escape  the  delay  and   uncertainty  of  treaties  it 


326  RECIPROCITY   IN  AMERICA. 

has  been  suggested  that  a  practicable  and  prompt  mode  of 
testing  the  question  was  to  submit  an  amendment  to  the 
pending  tariff  bill,  authorizing  the  President  to  declare  the 
ports  of  the  United  States  free  to  all  the  products  of  any 
nation  of  the  American  hemisphere  upon  which  no  export 
duties  are  imposed,  whenever  and  so  long  as  such  nation 
shall  admit  to  its  ports  free  of  all  national,  provincial  (state), 
municipal,  and  other  taxes,  our  flour,  corn-meal,  and  other 
breadstuffs,  preserved  meats,  fish,  vegetables  and  fruits,  cot- 
ton-seed oil,  rice  and  other  provisions,  including  all  articles 
of  food,  lumber,  furniture  and  other  articles  of  wood,  agri- 
cultural implements  and  machinery,  mining  and  mechanical 
machinery,  structural  steel  and  iron,  steel  rails,  locomotives, 
railway  cars  and  supplies,  street  cars,  and  refined  petroleum. 
These  particular  articles  are  mentioned  because  they  have 
been  most  frequently  referred  to  as  those  with  which  a  val- 
uable exchange  could  be  readily  effected.  The  list  could 
no  doubt  be  profitably  enlarged  by  a  careful  investigation 
of  the  needs  and  advantages  of  both  the  home  and  foreign 
markets. 

"The  opinion  was  general  among  the  foreign  delegates 
that  the  legislation  herein  referred  to  would  lead  to  the 
opening  of  new  and  profitable  markets  for  the  products  of 
which  we  have  so  large  a  surplus,  and  thus  invigorate  every 
branch  of  agricultural  and  mechanical  industry.  Of  course 
the  exchanges  involved  in  these  propositions  would  be  ren- 
dered impossible  if  Congress  in  its  wisdom  should  repeal 
the  duty  on  sugar  by  direct  legislation,  instead  of  allowing 
the  same  object  to  be  attained  by  the  reciprocal  arrangement 
suggested." 

RECIPROCITY  AND  THE  ACT  OF  iScp. 

We  have  now  reached  a  period  in  the  history  of  reci- 
procity when  it  was  to  be  given  practical  application,  out- 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  327 

side  of  the  usual  form  of  prolix  and  uncertain  treaty,  and 
in  the  form  of  a  specific  enactment  or  declaration.  The 
proposition,  just  above  noted,  to  incorporate  it  as  a  policy 
in  our  Tariff  laws,  was  at  first  received  with  misgivings  by 
the  most  ardent  friends  of  protection.  They  doubted  the 
propriety  of  introducing  it  into  strictly  tariff  legislation, 
lest  it  might  endanger  the  success  of  such  legislation,  or  at 
least  subtract  from  the  strength  and  efficacy  of  some  of 
the  protective  doctrines. 

But  the  matter  was  persistently  urged  upon  the  attention 
of  those  who  had  the  Tariff  Act  of  1890  in  charge.  The 
more  it  was  studied  the  more  it  grew  in  favor.  The  litera- 
ture bearing  upon  it,  the  facts  it  embraced,  the  theories  and 
promises  involved,  proved  startling  and  convincing.  The 
administration  saw  that  it  could  well  afford  to  accept  it  as  a 
measure  and  abide  by  its  consequences.  Political  lines  be- 
gan to  harden  respecting  it,  and  the  one  party  shrank  not 
from  its  advocacy  nor  the  other  from  attack  upon  it.  Thus 
it  ripened,  and  the  Tariff  Act  of  1890  became  its  opportu- 
nity, not  only  as  to  time,  but  as  to  the  fact  that  the  contem- 
plated enlargement  of  the  free  list,  by  the  removal  of  millions 
of  duties  from  sugars  and  other  articles,  would  provide  the 
concessions  to  other  nations  necessary  for  a  fair  and  perhaps 
successful  trial  of  it,  in  the  proposed  way. 

At  last  it  found  its  place  in  the  pending  Tariff  Act — the 
Tariff  Act  of  1890 — as  Section  3  of  the  Free  List.  It 
reads : — 

"  That  with  a  view  to  secure  reciprocal  trade  with  coun- 
tries producing  the  following  articles,  and  for  this  purpose, 
on  and  after  the  first  day  of  January,  1892,  whenever  and  so 
often  as  the  President  shall  be  satisfied  that  the  government 
of  any  country  producing  and  exporting  sugars,  molasses, 
coffee,  tea,  and  hides  raw  and  uncured,  or  any  of  such 


328  RKCIPROCITY   IN   AMERICA. 

articles,  imposes  duties  or  other  exactions  upon  the  agri- 
cultural or  other  products  of  the  United  States,  which  in 
view  of  the  free  introduction  of  such  sugar,  molasses,  coffee, 
tea  and  hides  ^nto  the  United  States  he  may  deem  to  be  re- 
ciprocally unequal  and  unreasonable,  he  shall  have  the 
power,  and  it  shall  be  his  duty  to  suspend,  by  proclamation 
to  that  effect,  the  provisions  of  this  Act  relating  to  the  free 
introduction  of  such  sugar,  molasses,  coffee,  tea  and  hides, 
the  production  of  such  country,  for  such  time  as  he  shall 
deem  just,  and  in  such  case  and  during  such  suspension 
duties  shall  be  levied,  collected  and  paid  upon  sugar, 
molasses,  coffee,  tea  and  hides,  the  product  of  or  exported 
from  such  designated  country,  as  follows : — " 

Here  follow  the  rates  in  detail,  the  rate  on  sugar  being 
from  /-loth  of  a  cent  per  pound  to  2  cents  per  pound  ac- 
cording to  test ;  on  molasses  4  cents  a  gallon ;  on  coffee  3 
cents  per  pound ;  on  tea  10  cents-per  pound ;  and  on  hides 
I  y2  cents  per  pound. 

APPLIED    RECIPROCITY. 

By  the  middle  of  March,  1892  (March  15),  all  the  coun- 
tries of  the  American  Continent  south  of  the  United  States 
had  either  assented  to  the  doctrine  of  reciprocal  trade  as  in- 
corporated in  the  McKinley  Act  of  1890,  or  had  entered 
into  negotiations  which  looked  to  a  speedy  acceptance  of 
the  doctrine,  with  the  exceptions  of  Venezuela,  Hayti  and 
Colombia.  The  refusal  of  these  three  to  join  in  reciprocity 
as  offered  by  the  Act  of  1890  led  to  an  event  which  marked 
the  second  stage  of  the  reciprocity  policy.  Their  refusal 
being  complete,  for  the  time  being  at  least,  President  Harri- 
son, under  the  powers  conferred  upon  him  by  the  Act,  issued 
his  proclamation  to  them,  imposing  on  their  sugars,  mo- 
lasses, coffees,  teas  and  raw  hides,  exported  to  the  United 


HON.   JOHN  SHERMAN. 

Born  at  Lancaster,  Ohio,  May  10,  1823 ;  academically  educated  ; 
studied  law  and  admitted  to  bar,  May  11,  1844;  delegate  to  Whig  Na- 
tional Conventions,  1848  and  1852 ;  President  of  first  Republican  in  Ohio, 
1865 ;  elected  to  34th,  35th,  36th  and  37th  Congresses ;  elected,  as  Re- 
publican, to  United  States  Senate,  March,  1861 ;  re-elected  to  same, 
1866  and  1872;  appointed  Secretary  of  Treasury,  by  President  Hayes, 
March,  1877,  and  served  till  March  3,  1881 ;  distinguished  for  advocacy 
of  resumption  and  success  in  refunding  United  States  debt ;  re-elected 
to  Senate  for  term  beginning  March  4,  1881,  and  again  in  1886  and 
1892 ;  Chairman  of  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  and  member  of 
Committees  on  Finance,  Rules,  etc. 


RECIPROCITY   IN  AMERICA.  331 

States  and  entered  at  its  ports,  the  duties  provided  for  in  the 
Act,  which  duties  were,  as  to  sugars  and  molasses,  less  than 
under  the  Act  of  1883,  or  the  Mills  Bill,  and  amounted  to 
three  cents  a  pound  on  coffee,  ten  cents  a  pound  on  tea,  and 
one  and  one  half  cents  per  pound  on  hides. 

These  duties,  therefore,  as  to  coffee,  tea  and  hides,  be- 
came really  discriminative,  for  these  articles  were,  and  had 
been  for  a  long  time,  upon  the  free  list  of  the  United  States. 
They  were  ratably  discriminative  as  to  sugar  and  molasses, 
which  articles  had  just  gone  upon  our  free  list;  but  then, 
these  three  countries  did  not  export  sugar  to  the  United 
States. 

In  order  to  meet  this  stage  of  the  reciprocity  policy,  those 
who  opposed  it  with  the  objection  that  the  Act  of  1890  was 
unconstitutional,  as  conferring  upon  the  Executive  powers 
which  belonged  wholly  to  the  Legislative  branch  of  the 
government,  carried  a  test  case  into  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court.  That  tribunal  decided  that  the  power  con- 
ferred upon  the  President  by  the  Act  was  not  unconstitu- 
tional, that  the  Congress  had  legislated  as  clearly  respecting 
the  duties  to  be  imposed  upon  the  products  of  dissenting 
countries  as  it  had  in  the  regular  schedules  of  the  Act,  and 
that  the  only  exceptional  feature  of  the  legislation,  which 
was  that  the  President  should  be  left  to  ascertain  the  date 
when  a  country  refused  to  accept  reciprocity,  was  not  fatal 
to  the  Act,  since  it  was  a  fact  only  which  had  to  be  ascer- 
tained, and  a  fact  which  would  have  to  be  ascertained  out 
of  the  State  Department  in  any  event. 

At  this  stage,  too,  reciprocity  met  renewed  and  active 

opposition  in  the  form  of  arguments  as  to  its  cost  to  the 

people  of  this  country.     The  exports  to  the  United  States 

of  the  three  dissenting  countries  were,  in  1890,  as  follows;— 

15 


332  RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

Coffee.  Hides. 

Venezuela $9,662,207  $812,347 

Colombia 1 ,849,441  630,099 

Hayti 1,270,247  30,391 

$12,781,895  $1,472,837 


Taking  the  above  item  of  coffee,  which  represented  an  ex- 
port of  about  76,000,000  pounds,  these  opponents  argued 
that  this  quantity  of  coffee,  which  was  about  fifteen  per 
cent,  of  our  entire  annual  supply — 500,000,000  pounds — 
would,  at  three  cents  a  pound,  subject  our  people  to  a  tax 
of  $2,280,000  per  annum. 

To  this  the  friends  of  reciprocity  answered  : — that  if  this 
duty  of  three  cents  a  pound  were  levied  upon  these  coffees 
it  would  prove  not  only  discriminating  but  prohibitory,  for 
these  countries  could  not  afford  to  compete  with  other  coffee- 
growing  countries  in  a  market  which  was  free  to  them. 
Therefore,  in  as  much  as  no  coffee  could  come  to  us  from 
these  dissenting  countries,  our  people  would  have  no  duties 
to  pay.  But,  said  the  opposition,  in  that  event  our  annual 
supply  of  coffee  will  be  reduced,  and  we  will  have  to  pay 
more  for  what  does  come.  To  this  the  answer  was,  that 
there  is  no  market  for  those  coffees  except  in  the  United 
States,  and  that  as  they  would  have  to  come  here  ulti- 
mately, the  only  condition  upon  which  they  could  be 
marketed  was  by  the  payment  of  the  duty  by  the  pro- 
ducers ;  that  is  to  say,  they  would  have  to  throw  off  the 
duty  in  order  to  enter  the  market  on  the  same  footing  as 
other  countries.  And  the  further  answer  was  given,  that 
even  if  these  coffees  never  reached  our  market,  the  vacuum 
occasion^.'  thereby  would  be  only  temporary,  and  would  be 
speedily  filled  by  Mexico  Central  America  and  Brazil.  As 
an  ass"  3  nee  of  this,  it  was  pointed  out  that  all  the  coffee- 


RECIPROCITY   IN  AMERICA.  333 

growing  countries,  notably  Brazil,  that  had  accepted  reci- 
procity, were  already  experiencing  improvement  in  their 
industrial  interests,  and  feeling  the  impetus  of  enlarged 
trade  with  the  United  States. 

ACCEPTANCE   OF    RECIPROCITY. 

This  stage  of  the  reciprocity  policy  had  been  anticipated 
by  all  the  important  sugar-producing  countries,  or  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  them  to  place  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  our 
raw  sugar  supply  under  the  regulation  of  reciprocity  con- 
ventions. The  Spanish  West  Indies,  whence  forty-two  per 
cent,  of  our  supply  is  derived,  Germany,  the  British  West 
Indies,  Hawaii,  the  Philippines,  San  Domingo,  Brazil, 
Austria-Hungary,  France  and  colonies,  Central  America, 
Mexico,  had  either  accepted  reciprocity  or  called  conven- 
tions for  that  purpose.  Many  of  these  countries  had  main- 
tained high  rates  of  duty  against  exports  from  the  United 
States,  some  had  imposed  prohibitive  rates,  a  few  had  for- 
bidden altogether  the  entry  of  our  products,  American  pork 
for  instance,  into  their  ports. 

The  concessions  granted  by  these  countries  in  their  reci- 
procity conventions  have  resulted  in  opening  their  ports  to 
a  large  class  of  the  products  of  the  United  States,  either  by 
removing  duties  on  them  entirely,  or  by  reducing  said  duties 
to  a  minimum.  Germany,  by  her  reciprocity  agreement, 
admitted  free,  or  at  reduced  rates  of  duty,  American  meats, 
fruits,  cereals,  furniture  and  farming  utensils.  France  did 
the  same  thing,  and  so  of  the  various  countries  whose  com- 
mercial interests  were  touched  by  the  enlargement  of  the 
free  list  of  imports  into  the  United  States  under  the  Act  of 
1890,  and  the  introduction  of  the  reciprocity  policy  as  a 
provision  of  said  Act. 

It  will  require  some  time  to  demonstrate  by  actual  figures 


334  RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

the  permanent  effects  of  reciprocity  on  the  commerce  of  the 
nations  interested.  But  figures  are  already  attainable  which 
point  to  an  increase  of  both  imports  to  and  exports  from 
such  countries.  Brazil  accepted  the  policy  of  reciprocity 
on  April  I,  1891.  In  nine  months  time,  that  is  up  to  the 
end  of  December,  1891,  her  imports  to  this  country  showed 
$79,183,238,  as  against  $52,861,398  for  the  corresponding 
nine  months  of  1890;  while  the  exports  from  this  country 
to  Brazil  showed  $11,555,447,  as  against  $10,071,871  for  the 
same  months  of  1891  and  1890  respectively. 

The  treaty  with  Spain,  which  mostly  touched  upon  our 
commerce  with  Cuba,  took  effect  September  I,  1891.  In  the 
four  months,  ending  December  31,  1891,  the  imports  from 
Cuba  to  this  country  were  $14,956,868,  as  against  $11,782, 
023  for  the  corresponding  four  months  of  1890;  while  the 
exports  to  Cuba  were  $7,063,222  in  the  same  four  months 
of  1891,  as  against  $4,816,029  in  the  corresponding  months 
of  1890.  This  decided  increase  of  exports  to  Cuba  took 
filace  in  the  face  of  the  fact  that  the  very  high  duties  im- 
posed on  American  wheat  and  flour  entering  Cuban  ports, 
amounting  almost  to  the  cost  of  production  of  these  articles, 
or  even  their  full  market  price,  was  not  fully  reduced  to  the 
minimum  rate  agreed  upon  in  the  reciprocity  treaty,  till 
January  I,  1892. 

A    FAIR   TRIAL    NEEDED. 

Whether  reciprocity  be  a  step  toward  free-trade,  as  free- 
traders argue,  or  whether  a  step  toward  more  rational  pro- 
tection, as  protectionists  argue,  it  ought  to  be  given  such  a 
test  as  will  forever  settle  it  as  a  safe  doctrine  in  the  new 
political  economy  which  the  United  States  of  America  is 
engaged  in  writing  for  itself  and  the  entire  Western  Conti- 
nent. It  ought  to  be  so  tried  by  the  fires  of  actual  experi- 
ence as  to  consume  it  entirely  as  a  commercial  policy  and 


HON.  WILLIAM  M.  STEWART. 

Born  in  Wayne  co.,  N.  Y.,  August  9,  1827  ;  attended  Yale  College, 
1849-50;  started  for  California  and  arrived  May,  1850;  engaged  in  min- 
ing; studied  law  in  1852;  appointed  District  Attorney  in  1853,  an. I 
elected  next  year;  appointed  Attorney-General  of  California,  1854; 
located  at  Virginia  city,  Nev.,  1860;  engrossed  in  mining  litigation  and 
development  of  mining  industry;  member  of  Territorial  Convention, 
1861 ;  member  of  Constitutional  Convention,  1863;  elected  U.  S.  Senator, 
1864  and  1869 ;  resumed  general  law  practice  for  Pacific  States ;  re- 
elected  to  U.  S.  Senate,  as  a  Republican,  for  term  beginning  March  4, 
1887  ;  prominent  advocate  of  Free  Silver  Coinage ;  Chairman  of  Com- 
mittee on  Mines  and  Mining,  and  member  of  Committees  on  Apropria- 
tjons,  Claims,  Irrigation,  Territories. 

(336) 


RECIPROCITY  IN   AMERICA.  33? 

practice,  if  false,  or  establish  it  permanently,  if  true.  A 
misfortune  attending  its  introduction  is  the  fact  that  it  has 
been  subjected  to  the  phases  of  opinion  and  to  the  partisan 
criticisms  and  arguments  which  characterize  American 
politics.  It  is  really  far  removed  from  mere  parties  and 
politics,  and  is  a  matter  of  truly  national  and  international 
import,  all  of  whose  essential  features  are  commercial  and 
economic. 

But  whatever  the  verdict  respecting  reciprocity,  when 
fully  tested,  may  be,  the  fact  of  its  incorporation  into  our 
statutes  and  of  its  introduction  into  our  commercial  polity, 
is  a  declaration  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  that  it  ha& 
reached  a  place  among  enlightened,  industrious,  rich  and 
progressive  nations  where  it  is  no  longer  sufficient  unto  it- 
self. The  immense  pressure  of  commercial,  manufacturing 
and  agricultural  interests  drives  us  every  day  more  and 
more  forward  and  outward  into  rivalry  with  the  old  and 
great  nations  that  have  established  their  markets  in  all  parts 
of  the  world,  and  especially  with  those  that  have  been  es- 
tablished upon  our  own  continent  and  at  our  very  doors. 
Rivalry  of  this  kind  has,  in  times  past,  assumed  overshad- 
owing, and  often  hostile,  proportions  among  nations  anxious 
to  gain  and  hold  trade  supremacy.  It  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  a  large  per  cent,  of  the  five  million  lives  and  fifteen 
thousand  millions  of  treasure  expended  by  civilized  nations 
during  the  past  century  is  chargeable  to  their  efforts  to  en- 
large and  maintain  their  commercial  interests.  This  is  evi- 
dence of  the  magnitude  and  value  of  the  prize  sought,  as 
well  as  the  manner  of  seeking  it. 

FIRMNESS    REQUIRED. 

Happily  for  our  civilization,  reciprocity  as  incorporated  in 
our  statutes  proposes  only  a  peaceful  solution  of  commer- 


338  RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

<;ial  and  economic  problems  and  an  amicable  assertion  of 
3ur  industrial  supremacy  and  independence,  if  such  shall 
come  to  pass  under,  or  by  reason  of,  it.  Yet  there  should 
be  no  closing  of  eyes  to  the  fact  that  the  rivalry  occasioned 
by  a  step  which  bids  fair  to  be  as  momentous  as  that  of 
reciprocity  is  not  without  dangers.  One  has  but  to  consider 
the  feeling  evinced  by  the  nations  of  Europe  when  the 
policy  of  reciprocity  was  announced  in  the  United  States, 
to  be  convinced  that  they  would  not  willingly  forego  the 
advantages  of  trade  they  enjoyed  with  the  countries  to  the 
south  of  us,  on  this  continent,  but  that  they  would  struggle 
for  them  with  all  the  arts  known  to  diplomacy,  all  the  inge- 
nuity born  of  superiority,  and  all  the  finesse  bred  by  ages 
of  shrewdness  and  self-assertion.  England,  especially, 
seemed  to  have  been  impressed  with  the  magnitude  of  the 
new  departure  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  with 
her  usual  astuteness  earliest  foresaw  its  effects  on  her  mar- 
kets in  Central  and  South  American  countries.  Her  press 
became  bitter  in  its  denunciations  of  the  new  policy,  and 
when  the  difficulty  with  Chile  arose,  the  same  press  made  it 
all  too  plain  that  there  was  concerted  effort  on  the  part  of 
English  diplomats  to  crush  out  intercourse,  commercial  and 
social,  with  our  continental  neighbor.  The  United  States 
could  not  have  gone  to  war  with  Chile,  except  by  fighting 
England,  either  openly,  or  under  cover  of  deeply  disguised 
diplomacy.  The  English  idea  of  reciprocity  being  that  it 
involves  the  principle  of  lex  talionis,  or  the  law  of  revenge 
— "  an  eye  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth  " — it  would 
have  been  easy  for  her  to  find  arguments  or  excuses  for 
frustrating  all  our  efforts  toward  more  intimate  trade  rela- 
tions with  all  South  American  countries.  Our  imbroglio 
with  Chile  made  the  fact  almost  patent  that  foreign  nations 
stood  ready  to  challenge  our  right  to  intrench  on  their  com- 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  339 

mercial  domains  by  means  of  reciprocity,  and  their  anxiety 
and  attitude  showed  that  they  were  more  fully  aware  of  the 
effects  of  reciprocity  on  their  trade  in  these  countries  than 
even  our  wisest  statesmen  and  shrewdest  merchants  had 
been. 

WHAT    EUROPE   STRIVES    FOR. 

Heretofore,  England,  Germany,  France  and  Italy  had 
been  struggling,  neck  and  neck,  for  the  markets  of  Central 
and  South  America,  not  to  say  Mexico.  They  had  used 
every  art  and  artifice  known  to  diplomacy  and  commerce  to 
head  off  rivalry  and  establish  supremacy.  They  manufac- 
tured and  priced  and  labelled  with  specific  intent  to  occupy 
markets.  They  established  lines  of  steamers,  whose  gauge 
and  velocity  were  best  adapted  for  intercourse.  They  sub- 
sidized ocean  transit  to  secure  dispatch.  They  founded 
banks  and  commercial  houses.  They  loaned  credit  on  most 
desperate  securities.  They  sent  drummers,  agents  and  in- 
terested parties  to  prospect,  persuade  and  represent.  They 
formed  huge  syndicates  which  took  possession  of  great  in- 
terests, like  the  nitre  beds,  and  worked  them  at  immense 
profit.  The  result  was  that  they  came  to  own  and  control 
the  markets  of  South  America.  The  productions  of  these 
countries,  destined  for  the  United  States,  came  here  in  the 
ships  of  Europe  and  by  way  of  European  ports,  where  they 
paid  the  rich  bounty  of  ocean  freight  and  the  inevitable 
commissions  for  handling  that  the  European  merchant  has 
ever  been  privileged  to  suck  from  the  world's  goods  in  transit. 
Two  or  three  steamers  a  month  sufficed  to  carry  to  these 
countries  all  they  cared  to  take  from  us  in  the  shape  of  our 
products.  The  bulk  of  what  they  had  sold  us — many  times 
over  and  over  again  what  we  had  sold  them — was  paid  for 
in  gold,  through  European  houses,  with  another  commission 
for  handling. 


340  RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

Europe  saw  that  every  bill  of  goods  we  could  place  to 
our  credit,  in  a  South  American  port,  would  be  deducted 
from  her  account.  Hence  her  nervousness,  her  hostility. 
She  could  not,  she  would_not,  sit  idly  by  and  witness  this 
inroad  upon  her  trade,  this  disturbance  of  the  commercial 
nests  she  had  built  in  the  Central  and  South  American 
States.  In  affairs  of  this  kind,  and  amid  such  conditions, 
affairs  and  conditions  which  concern  only  national  pocket- 
books  and  national  prestige,  there  is  absolutely  no  senti- 
ment, nothing  to  be  hoped  for  from  real  or  imaginary 
national  condescension  or  sympathy.  We  must  expect  just 
what  is  sure  to  come,  unless  all  history  belies  itself,  to  wit, 
the  criticism,  the  antagonism,  the  counter  efforts  of  the 
nations  whose  interests  are  touched  and  whose  trade  is 
threatened.  We  must  even  expect  more,  for  conditions 
may  arise,  as  they  have  not  infrequently  done,  which  shall 
require  that  we  be  prepared  to  hold  at  any  cost  what  we 
have  striven  to  obtain  through  ordinary  diplomatic  and 
commercial  avenues,  what  is  as  much  our  right  as  a  nation 
as  it  is  the  right  of  any  other  nation,  what  geographically 
speaking  is  more  naturally  our  own  than  that  of  any  nation 
across  the  sea,  and  what  by  similarity  of  political  institu- 
tions and  continental  instinct  is  ours  rather  than  a  stranger's. 
It  can  be  but  a  short  while  before  the  reflex  action  of  reci- 
procity upon  the  American  Republics  becomes  its  most  elo- 
quent argument  and  surest  guarantee  of  a  permanent  foot- 
hold. For  it  is  destined  to  repeat  in  commerce  the  history 
which  led  to  the  Monroe  Doctrine  in  diplomacy  and  politics. 
There  may  never  be  an  American  Bund,  a  distinctive  Con- 
tinental Commercial  Union,  but  as  the  advantages  of  reci- 
procity with  such  a  people  as  that  of  the  United  States, 
with  a  market  the  highest  priced  and  richest  in  the  world, 
\vith  ports  that  are  nearest  and  most  accessible,  come  to  be 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  341 

fully  appreciated  by  the  American  Republics,  there  will  be 
such  a  consensus  of  commercial  view,  such  a  blending  of 
trade  interests,  such  a  harmony  of  industrial  instincts,  as 
will  surprise  the  older  nations  with  its  strength  and  effi- 
ciency. 

COMMERCIAL   EMANCIPATION. 

When  the  "  Monroe  Doctrine,"  which  was  a  broad  hint 
to  Europe  that  monarchical  interference  with  the  spirit  of 
Republicanism  in  America  might  give  occasion  for  a  com- 
mon cause  on  the  part  of  the  rising  Republics  against  such 
interference,  fell  into  seeming  desuetude,  it  but  required  the 
French  threat  upon  Mexico  in  1864-65  to  set  aflame  all  the 
Republics  of  South  America,  and  in  Convention  at  Lima 
they  made  it  quite  plain  that  meddling  of  that  kind  with 
American  affairs  would  result  in  united  opposition,  even  to 
the  verge  of  force.  What,  therefore,  has  become  true  in  a 
political  sense,  will  become  equally  true  in  a  commercial 
sense.  The  year  1890  and  the  policy  of  reciprocity  in 
American  commerce  are  as  much  of  a  departure  and  as 
much  the  beginning  of  a  continental  era,  looking  to  freedom 
and  independence,  as  were  the  year  1824  and  the  Panama 
Congress,  of  which  Congress  Simon  Bolivar  said  in  his 
call : — "  The  day  our  plenipotentiaries  make  the  exchanges 
of  their  powers  will  stamp  in  the  diplomatic  history  of  the 
world  an  immortal  epoch.  When,  after  a  hundred  cen- 
turies, posterity  shall  search  for  the  origin  of  our  public 
law,  and  shall  remember  the  compacts  that  solidified  its 
destiny,  they  will  finger  with  respect  the  protocols  of  the 
Isthmus.  In  them  they  will  find  the  plan  of  the  first 
alliances  that  shall  sketch  the  mark  of  our  relations  with 
the  universe.  What,  then,  shall  be  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth 
as  compared  with  the  Isthmus  of  Panama?" 


REVOLUTION  OF  1892, 

THE  political  situation  which  heralded  the  Presidential 
election  of  1892  was  one  of  the  most  satisfactory  since  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution.  It  was  free  from  the  doubts 
and  suspicions  that  existed  from  1787  up  to  1812.  It  was 
free  from  the  vacillations  that  characterized  politics  up  to 
1824.  It  was  free  from  the  intrigues  and  turmoils  that 
carried  the  nation  up  to  1861.  It  was  free  from  the  ex- 
ceeding gravity  of  armed  strife  and  the  intricate  problems  of 
national  unity  and  honor  which  bridged  the  chasm  between 
1861  and  1884.  Not  that  something  of  all  that  went  be- 
fore was  not  still  involved,  but  that  there  was  nothing  on 
the  surface  to  indicate  a  dangerous  aggregation  of  the 
things  which  make  people  doubt  and  halt  and  shudder  at 
what  impended. 

For  some  years  the  attitude  of  parties,  the  trend  of  politi- 
cal events,  the  course  of  administrations,  had  been  shaping 
the  issues  which  were  to  culminate  in  1892.  Therefore, 
they  were  not  only  not  novel,  but  well  defined  and  well 
understood  by  parties  and  their  leaders.  The  field  of  play 
for  supremacy  had  ascertained  metes  and  bounds. 

There  was  nothing  to  indicate  that  the  personalism  of 
candidates  would  cut  any  such  conspicuous  and  disgrace- 
ful figure  as  they  did  in  1884.  Nor  was  there  anything  to 
warrant  the  thought  that  partisanship  of  an  acerb  or  offen- 
sive kind  was  to  characterize  the  campaign.  It  was  not  a 
time  which  encouraged  narrowness  or  bitterness.  The 
issues  were  broad  and  concerned  the  people  rather  than 
parties.  They  went  beyond  organization  and  down  to  the 
(342) 


REVOLUTION  OF  1892.  343 

masses.  Never  had  discussion  such  a  fair  and  open  field. 
Never  had  oratory  greater  demand.  Never  were  auditors 
more  numerous,  attentive  and  serious. 

The  era  of  the  cheer  and  the  torchlight  had  passed.  The 
era  of  listening  and  thinking  had  dawned.  There  was  the 
unrest  of  independence.  Time  was  conducive  to  campaign 
activities,  but  no  party  could  calculate  or  claim  results. 
All  depended  on  prolonged,  minute  work,  on  vigorous 
agency,  on  persevering  energy,  on  sincere  and  uncompro- 
mising devotion.  Documents  would  have  to  be  showered 
on  the  masses  in  profusion.  Literary  bureaus  would  have 
to  pour  forth  their  floods  of  persuasion.  Expounders 
would  have  to  unload  their  wisdom  at  every  cross-road. 
Avenues  would  have  to  be  provided  for  carrying  the  issues 
to  every  part  of  the  body  politic. 

Nor  was  there  a  doubt  that  a  main  issue  would  be  the 
tariff.  On  this  the  Democratic  and  Republican  lines  had 
been  hardening  for  years,  and  especially  since  the  tariff 
act  of  1883.  The  passage  of  this  act  had  led  to  Republi- 
can reverses,  and  the  Democrats  were  emboldened  to  force 
their  doctrines  of  tariff  reform,  or  free  trade,  to  an  issue 
at  the  polls,  so  as  to  get  a  square  verdict  from  the  people. 
As  preparatory  to  this,  they  had  presented  the  Morrison 
tariff  bill  in  the  Forty-eighth  Congress,  with  its  horizontal 
reduction  of  twenty  per  cent,  of  duties,  and  had  stood  de- 
feat on  it.  President  Cleveland  had  come  to  the  rescue  of 
his  party  in  his  celebrated  tariff  reform  message  of  1887, 
and  again  the  party  encountered  defeat.  Not  daunted  by 
disaster,  the  Mills'  tariff  reduction  bill  was  passed  in  the 
Fiftieth  Congress,  to  be  defeated  in  the  Senate.  Still  un- 
daunted, "  pop-gun "  methods  were  resorted  to  in  subse- 
quent congresses,  with  a  view  to  accomplishing  by  items 
what  could  not  be  achieved  by  a  general  law.  Meanwhile 


344  REVOLUTION  OF  1892. 

a  Republican  opportunity  came  in  the  Fifty-first  Congress, 
an  opportunity  encouraged  by  the  fact  that  Harrison  occu- 
pied the  presidential  chair.  Though  the  majority  in  the 
House  was  small,  it  was  determined  to  remodel  existing 
tariff  legislation  and  give  the  county  a  law  which  embo- 
died existing  Republican  sentiment.  The  result  was  the 
McKinley  tariff  act  of  1890,  an  abomination  to  the  Demo- 
crats and  an  invitation  to  fresh  attack. 

This  act  was  made  the  main  issue  of  the  campaign  of 
1890  for  the  election  of  members  to  the  Fifty-second  Con- 
gress, and  in  all  the  states  for  state  officers.  The  result 
was  astounding  to  both  parties.  The  Democrats  elected 
governors  in  many  Republican  States,  and  converted  the 
small  Republican  majority  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
into  a  two-thirds  majority  in  their  favor.  But  they  did  not 
deem  it  wise,  or  rather  they  did  not  dare  to  improve  this 
pronounced  victory.  They  defeated  their  logical  candidate 
for  the  speakership,  Mr.  Mills,  and  frittered  away  an  entire 
session  in  petty  attempts  to  effect  tariff  reform  by  "pop- 
gun "  methods.  This  nervousness  and  cowardice  was  how- 
ever but  a  preparation  for  the  campaign  of  1892.  The 
elections  of  1891  had  shown  a  reaction  throughout  the 
country,  and  it  was  patent  that  the  verdict  of  1890  had  not 
been  final.  There  must  be  another  trial,  under  better 
auspices,  and  with  a  Presidential  Candidate  at  the  head  of 
the  ranks.  Of  the  situation  after  the  election  of  1890,  Mr. 
Carlisle  said : — "  If  the  result  of  an  election  in  this  country 
means  anything,  if  the  people  by  their  votes  actually  pro- 
nounced judgment  on  the  question  submitted  to  them,  the 
result  of  the  recent  one  is  undoubtedly  an  emphatic  and 
conclusive  condemnation  of  the  tariff  act  and  its  kindred 
measures  granting  subsidies  to  private  enterprises."  This 
from  one  of  the  foremost  and  clearest-headed  of  Democratic 


GROVER   CLEVELAND, 

(345) 


REVOLUTION  OF  1892.  347 

leaders  may  be  accepted  as  the  judgment  of  the  party,  and 
the  source  of  its  determination  to  fight  to  the  end  on  the 
lines  laid  down  in  that  and  previous  campaigns. 

It  was  thus  that  the  campaign  of  1892  shaped  up  as  to 
the  tariff!  The  Republicans  were  thoroughly  committed 
to  the  McKinley  act  as  an  exponent  of  their  doctrine  of 
protection.  The  Democrats  were  as  thoroughly  in  hostil- 
ity to  it,  though  they  were  not  so  fortunate  as  to  have  their 
opposition  codified. 

There  were  other  issues  of  minor  moment  which  the  cam- 
paign could  not  hope  to  escape.  One  of  these  was  the 
"  Free  Coinage  of  Silver."  Though  democracy  was  not  an 
active  unit  on  this  issue,  it  had  coquetted  with  it  so  long  and 
so  frequently  in  many  states  that,  so  far  as  state  platforms 
went,  it  was  committed  to  "  Free  Coinage."  In  this  com- 
mitment laid  the  secret  of  that  after-discovered  devotion  to, 
that  drift  toward,  and  that  affiliation,  in  certain  sections,  with 
the  element  of  unrest  and  socialistic  tendency  which  had  its 
origin  in  the  Farmers'  Alliance,  and  which  subsequently 
took  the  active  political  form  of  Populism.  The  party  had 
also  taken  a  national  stand  on  this  question,  if  its  votes  in 
the  Congress  signified  thus  much.  It  had  championed  the 
Bland  compulsory  coinage  act  of  1878  in  the  House,  even 
over  a  Presidential  veto.  In  the  Forty-fifth  Congress  the 
party  defeated  the  efforts  of  the  Republicans  to  repeal  the 
act  authorizing  the  coinage  of  Bland  dollars.  In  the  Forty- 
sixth  Congress  the  party  passed  the  Warner  silver  bill 
which  provided  for  the  unlimited  coinage  of  silver.  It  paid 
no  attention  to  President  Cleveland's  advice  to  stop  the 
coinage  of  Bland  dollars.  It  antagonized  the  Sherman  act 
of  1890  which  did  away  with  compulsory  coinage.  It  sup- 
ported the  free  coinage  bill  which  Mr.  Bland  introduced  into 
the  Fifty-second  Congress,  though  enough  Democrats  finally 


348  REVOLUTION  OF   1892. 

went  to  the  Republicans  to  defeat  it.  This  bill  was  a  test 
of  Democratic  intention  and  principle.  Its  design  was  to 
make  the  coinage  of  silver  free  like  that  of  gold.  It  was  con- 
fidently introduced  and  advocated  with  the  hope  that  it  would 
re-monetize  silver,  and  give  to  the  owner  of  every  seventy 
cents  worth  of  silver  bullion  brought  to  the  mint  a  stamped 
and  guaranteed  silver  dollar.  It  was  the  delight  of  silver 
miners.  It  answered  all  the  arguments  of  those  who  saw  in 
a  cheap  currency  a  panacea  for  the  inconvenience  of  debts 
and  the  ills  of  hard  times.  It  was  believed  to  be  so  purely 
Democratic,  so  much  in  accord  with  the  demand  of  State 
platforms,  so  in  line  with  the  trend  of  Democratic  sentiment 
for  at  least  ten  years,  that  its  defeat  came  like  a  thunder 
clap,  and  left  a  wake  of  animosities  which  would  plague  the 
sea  of  Democracy  for  a  long  time. 

The  issue  of  a  full  and  fair  expression  by  ballot  came  into 
the  campaign,  more  by  moral  than  political  direction.  This 
was  an  issue  which  the  Republicans  had  sought  to  incor- 
porate into  an  act,  in  that  measure  which  its  opponents 
characterized  as  the  "  Force  Bill."  This  measure  had  en- 
countered defeat,  chiefly  through  defection  in  the  ranks  of 
its  friends.  While,  therefore,  it  was  not  such  a  distinctive 
campaign  measure  as  some  others,  it  had  the  support  of  a 
powerful  contingent  in  the  Republican  party,  and  no  doubt 
reflected  the  better  sentiment  of  the  party  and,  for  that  mat- 
ter, of  all  parties,  as  fully  as  any  completely  formulated  issue. 

There  was  but  one  other  issue  of  vital  moment  and  that 
was  economy.  The  appropriations  of  the  Fifty-first  Con- 
gress had  approximated  a  billion  dollars.  Though  this  was 
not  a  large  increase  over  prior  appropriations,  and  though 
much  of  it  was  rendered  necessary  to  cover  deficits  created 
by  Democratic  Congresses,  the  roundness  of  the  figures  and 
the  necessity  for  a  battle  cry  caused  it  to  be  eagerly  siezed 


REVOLUTION  OF  1892.  349 

upon  and  boldly  projected  into  the  campaign.  When  all 
other  arguments  failed  to  elicit  attention  or  gain  applause 
Republican  extravagance  was  drawn  upon  to  fill  the  chasm. 
Happily  for  this  grade  of  argument  a  subsequent  Con- 
gress, thoroughly  economic  and  so  largely  Democratic  as 
to  be  almost  entirely  responsible  for  appropriations,  had  not 
yet  made  a  reputation  for  still  larger  appropriations. 

Senator  McMillan  of  Michigan  thus  summed  up  the  is- 
sues of  1892 : 

"  There  are  three  question  now  uppermost  in  the  public 
mind,  and  which  must  continue  so  long  as  opinions  respect- 
ing them  differ  so  widely.  These  three  are  the  tariff,  the 
finances  and  the  franchise." 

The  Hon.  Benton  McMillin  of  Tennessee  said,  the  follow- 
ing will  be  the  issues  separating  the  two  parties  in  1892 : 

(i.)  "Shall  there  be  reckless  prodigality  or  wise  econ- 
omy in  public  expenses  ?  " 

(2.)  "  Shall  the  people  remain  free,  or  be  enslaved 
through  '  Force  Bills,'  by  turning  the  elections  of  the  Legis- 
lative branch  of  the  Government  over  to  the  Judicial  ?  " 

(3.)  "  Shall  the  people  be  robbed  and  commerce  be  de- 
stroyed by  excessive  rate  of  duty  ?  " 

Hon.  R.  P\  Bland  of  Missouri  said :  "  Undoubtedly  the 
question  of  Tariff  Reform  will  be  the  most  absorbing  issue 
in  the  coming  Presidential  campaign.  But  it  will  not  be  the 
only  question.  The  Republican  "  Force  Bill"  has  put  in 
jeopardy  home  rule  and  local  self-government.  The  money 
question  in  the  shape  of  free  coinage  of  silver  will  not  down 
at  the  bidding  of  either  party." 

The  Hon.  Eugene  Hale  of  Maine  thus  summarized  the 
situation  : — "  The  Republican  party  began  furnishing  the 
issues  for  Presidential  elections  in  1856  and  will  furnish 
them  for  1892. 


350  REVOLUTION  OF  1892. 

"  The  doctrine  of  Protection  will  have  a  front  place  in  the 
contest,  and  will  be  enlarged  and  popularized  by  its  new 
ally,  reciprocity. 

"  A  sound,  stable  currency,  maintaining  gold  and  silver  at 
par,  and  utilizing  both  metals,  will  be  another  issue. 

"  The  restriction  of  criminal  and  pauper  immigration  is 
another  issue. 

"  The  encouragement  of  American  steamship  lines  by  ju- 
dicious subsidies,  and  the  rebuilding  of  the  Navy  will  con- 
stitute another  issue. 

"  If  we  cannot  prevail  with  these  issues,  the  party  may 
as  well  go  out  of  business." 

Governor  William  R.  Merriam  of  Minn.,  thus  stated  the 
issues : — "  The  Republican  party  must  stand  by  two  impor- 
tant questions  now  under  consideration,  and  already  assumed 
as  party  principles.  I  refer  to  the  question  of  free  coinage 
and  the  policy  of  protection.  I  name  them  in  this  order, 
because  I  look  upon  the  financial  question  as  the  most  im- 
portant at  stake." 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  political  issues  of  1892  were 
clean  cut  and  well  understood.  They  would  be  softened  or 
intensified  according  to  the  choice  of  leaders.  Who  these 
were  to  be  was  fairly  clear  at  an  early  date.  The  Harrison 
administration  had  been  a  full  and  frank  commitment  of  his 
party  to  one  side  of  the  above  issues,  and  had  indeed  so  shaped 
and  solidified  them  that  he  stood  forth  as  their  logical  ex- 
ponent and  as  the  natural  choice  of  their  friends  in  the  dif- 
ferent sections  of  the  country.  While  he  had  incurred  the 
enmity  of  som^  of  the  party  leaders  he  had,  nevertheless, 
given  the  country  an  exceedingly  pure  and  able  administra- 
tion. He  had  been  fortunate  in  his  cabinet  officers,  and 
both  American  and  progressive  in  his  state  papers;  and  ex- 
ecutive methods.  As  to  his  foreign  policy,  he  had  success- 


BENJAMIN    HARRISON. 


REVOLUTION  OF   1892.  353 

fully  applied  the  "  Monroe  Doctrine  "  in  the  Samoan  diffi- 
culty;  had  pushed  the  "  Behring  Sea  Question  "  to  a  peace- 
ful and  practical  conclusion ;  had  handled  the  intricate  prob- 
lems with  Italy,  rising  out  of  the  massacre  of  Italians  in 
New  Orleans,  so  as  to  preserve  peace,  satisfy  the  offended 
country  and  preserve  the  dignity  of  his  own ;  had  carried 
the  nation  safely  through  the  mazes  of  the  Chilian  imbrog- 
lio ;  and  in  fact  had  shaped  and  established  a  foreign  policy 
which  met  with  the  widest  popular  reception. 

He  had  stood  firmly  by  his  party  in  executing  its  protec- 
tive policy  as  embodied  in  the  tariff  act  of  1890,  and  espec- 
ially as  to  that  new  feature  of  it,  the  reciprocity  clause,the  bur- 
den of  whose  interpretation  and  application  fell,  by  the  terms 
of  the  act,  on  executive  shoulders.  Numerous  treaties  were 
entered  into  with  countries  under  the  reciprocity  provisions, 
and  with  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  new  markets  open  and  an 
increased  commerce  spring  up  as  the  principle  of  reciproc- 
ity contemplated. 

The  Government  finances  had  been  handled  at  all  points 
in  a  satisfactory  manner.  One  quarter  of  the  entire  interest- 
bearing  debt  had  been  paid  off,  with  a  saving  in  interest  of 
$55,000,000.  Both  the  amount  and  cost  of  collecting  in- 
ternal revenue  had  been  greatly  reduced.  The  large  addi- 
tions to  the  free  list  made  by  the  McKinley  bill,  and  the 
loss  of  $50,000,000  of  duties  on  sugar  alone,  had  not  re- 
duced the  income  of  the  Government  below  its  economic 
needs.  Foreign  commerce  was  never  more  active,  as  the 
imports  and  exports  showed.  Domestic  industry  reached 
its  greatest  height  of  activity.  Labor  was  never  more  fully 
employed  or  better  paid,  nor  capital  and  enterprise  more 
confident  and  buoyant.  American  credit  never  stood  higher 
at  home  and  abroad. 

It  could  hardly  be  otherwise  than  that  the  choice  of  the 
16 


354  REVOLUTION  OF  1892. 

Republican  convention  which  met  at  Chicago  on  June  7, 
1892,  should  fall  on  one  who  had  proved  so  masterful  a 
leader  for  nearly  four  years,  and  who  had  acquired  so  high 
and  wide  a  confidence  for  business-like  methods.  True,  the 
opposition  which  first  became  overt  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
which  sought  to  use  Mr.  Elaine  as  a  means  of  crushing  Mr. 
Harrison,  gradually  assumed  portentous  proportions,  and 
was  given  an  unexpected  boost  by  Mr.  Elaine's  resignation 
from  the  cabinet,  but  by  the  time  the  convention  was  fairly 
under  way  it  was  ascertained  that  Mr.  Harrison's  friends 
were  in  a  majority  and  could  hold  their  forces  against  any 
possible  combination  in  the  interest  of  another  candidate. 
They  therefore  resolved  to  force  the  fighting  and  on  the 
fourth  day  secured  a  ballot.  Mr.  Harrison  received  a  ma- 
jority of  the  votes  cast  on  the  first  ballot,  the  vote  standing 
Harrison  535^;  Elaine  182^;  McKinley  182;  with  several 
scattering. 

The  convention  then  published  its  code  of  principles  in 
an  elaborate  platform  embodying  the  issues  already  pre- 
sented, as  likely  to  be  the  dominant  ones.  The  code  re- 
affirmed the  "  American  doctrine  of  Protection  "  and  called 
attention  to  its  rapid  growth  abroad.  It  maintained  that 
the  prosperous  condition  of  the  country  was  largely  due  to 
the  wise  revenue  legislation  of  the  Republican  Congress, 
and  that  no  articles  which  can  be  produced  in  the  United 
States,  except  luxuries,  should  be  admitted  free  of  duty,  but 
that  all  imports  coming  into  competition  with  the  products 
of  American  labor  should  bear  a  duty  equal  to  the  difference 
between  wages  abroad  and  at  home.  It  further  maintained 
that  the  prices  of  articles  manufactured  for  general  con- 
sumption had  been  reduced  since  the  tariff  act  of  1890 
had  gone  into  operation.  An  appeal  was  made  to  the  judg- 
ment of  the  people  over  Democratic  efforts  to  destroy  the 


REVOLUTION  OF  1892.  355 

tariff  laws,  as  shown  in  their  recent  attacks  on  wool, 
lead  and  lead  ores.  Attention  was  confidently  called  to  the 
success  of  reciprocity  in  extending  our  export  trade  and 
opening  up  new  and  enlarged  markets  for  the  products  of 
farms  and  workshops ;  also,  in  giving  early  promise  that 
under  the  operation  of  such  law  we  should  again  control 
the  trade  of  the  world. 

As  to  the  much  mooted  "  Silver  Question,"  the  platform 
spoke  in  unequivocal  terms.  It  said : — "  The  American 
people  from  tradition  and  interest  favor  bimetalism,  and  the 
Republican  party  demands  the  use  of  both  gold  and  silver 
as  standard  money,  with  such  restrictions  and  under  such 
provisions,  to  be  determined  by  legislation,  as  will  secure 
the  maintenance  of  the  parity  of  values  of  the  two  metals, 
so  that  the  purchasing  and  debt-paying  power  of  the  dollar, 
whether  of  gold,  silver,  or  paper,  shall  be  at  all  times  equal. 
The  interests  of  the  producers  of  the  country,  its  farmers 
and  its  workingmen,  demand  that  every  dollar,  paper  or 
coin,  issued  by  the  government  shall  be  as  good  as  any 
other.  We  commend  the  wise  and  patriotic  steps  already 
taken  by  our  government  to  secure  an  international  con- 
ference, to  adopt  such  measures  as  will  insure  a  parity  of 
value  between  gold  and  silver  for  use  as  money  throughout 
the  world." 

A  demand  was  also  made  for  a  free  and  unrestricted 
ballot  at  all  public  elections ;  Southern  outrages  were 
denounced ;  extension  of  foreign  commerce  was  favored, 
the  restoration  of  a  merchant  marine  by  means  of  home- 
built  ships,  and  the  creation  of  a  new  navy  for  the  protection 
of  our  national  interests  and  our  flag.  The  "  Monroe 
Doctrine  "  was  re-affirmed,  and  a  demand  made  for  more 
stringent  laws  relating  to  immigration.  Trusts  were  de- 
nounced; interstate  commerce  laws  favored;  extension 


356  REVOLUTION  OF  1892. 

of  the  free-delivery  system  of  letters  advocated ;  the  civil 
service  system  commended.  The  platform  concluded  with 
planks  in  favor  of  the  construction  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal, 
World's  Fair,  the  Pension  System  and  the  Administration. 

Mr.  Harrison  was  duly  notified  of  his  nomination,  and  in 
course  of  time  wrote  and  published  his  letter  of  acceptance, 
thus  fixing  more  firmly  the  issues  of  the  hour,  which  were 
in  entire  accord  with  the  national  platform  and  altogether 
acceptable  to  the  party  at  large. 

Meanwhile  the  Democratic  situation  had  proved  to  be 
most  interesting.  Whether  in  the  midst  of  professional  life 
in  New  York,  or  in  the  quiet  of  retiracy  at  Gray  Gables, 
Mr.  Cleveland  had  never  lost  his  hold  on  the  affections  of 
his  party,  nor  his  influence  with  that  large  Republican 
contingent  which  came  to  be  grouped  under  the  rather 
indefinite,  yet  fantastical  title  of  "  mugwump."  At  no 
moment  after  his  defeat  in  1888  did  he  cease  to  be  the  idol 
of  friends  nor  fail  in  identity  with  the  cardinal  principles  of 
Democracy.  With  him  the  verdict  of  1888  was  never 
regarded  as  final,  and  there  had  never  been  an  hour  since 
when  he  was  not  regarded  as  an  available  Presidential 
candidate  for  1892.  There  was  no  other  exponent  of  the 
views  which  he  had  originated  during  his  former  adminis- 
tration, views  which  had  suffered  disaster  in  1888,  but 
which  after  two  years  of  delay  had  found  vindication  in 
1890.  He  indulged  the  thought  that  1888  had  been  a 
drawn  battle,  and  that  1892  was  necessary  to  prove  his 
originality  as  a  thinker,  his  wisdom  as  a  statesman,  and  his 
probity  as  a  ruler. 

While  by  no  means  a  seeker  after  nomination,  there  was 
a  magic  about  his  name,  and  a  spell  operating  in  his  behalf, 
which  drew  from  minor  conventions  resolutions  directly  in 
his  favor  as  a  candidate,  or  paying  him  glowing  tributes. 


REVOLUTION  OF   1892.  357 

The  Democratic  National  Convention  met  at  Chicago, 
June  21,  1892.  It  opened  with  friction,  occasioned  by  the 
opposition  of  Tammany  Hall  to  Mr.  Cleveland's  nomination, 
and  the  fact  that  Senator  Hill,  of  New  York,  had  early 
announced  his  candidacy,  and  had  stolen  a  march  on  his 
rival  by  "  snap  "  conventions  throughout  the  State.  These 
things  served  to  distract  the  hitherto  pervasive  thought 
that  Mr.  Cleveland's  nomination  could  be  effected  by  accla- 
mation. They  showed  that  nomination  must  come  about 
through  a  regular  marshalling  of  forces,  and  a  wise 
generalship. 

When  the  Convention  assembled,  and  the  situation  became 
clear  by  an  alignment  of  forces,  it  was  manifest  that  nothing 
could  shake  the  strength  that  supported  the  Cleveland 
standard.  It  was  spontaneous,  enthusiastic,  resolved.  It 
had  lost  valuable  points  in  the  committee  rooms,  and  in 
the  selection  of  a  temporary  chairman,  but  in  this  it  had 
shown  the  wisdom  of  concession  rather  than  the  semblance 
of  weakness.  On  the  second  day  of  the  Convention  nomina- 
tions and  balloting  were  reached.  Applause  and  eloquence 
attended  the  nominations  of  Hill,  of  New  York,  and  Boies, 
of  Iowa,  but  these  were  as  nothing  compared  with  the  mani- 
festations which  attended  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Cleveland. 
The  prime  rules  of  generalship  required  a  show  of  hands 
on  the  instant,  and  balloting  began.  The  first  ballot 
resulted  in  the  choice  of  Mr.  Cleveland  by  a  vote  of  617^ 
to  Mr.  Hill's  1 1 5,  and  Mr.  Boies'  103,  with  several  scat- 
tering. 

The  logic  of  the  situation  was  well  expressed  by  Gov- 
ernor Abbett,  of  New  Jersey,  in  his  nominating  speech. 
"  Why,"  he  asked,  "  is  it  that  the  masses  of  the  party 
demand  the  nomination  of  Grover  Cleveland  ?  Why  is  it 
that  this  man  who  has  no  offices  to  distribute,  no  wealth 


358  REVOLUTION  OF  1892. 

to  command,  should  have  stirred  the  spontaneous  support 
of  the  great  body  of  Democracy  ?  Why  is  it  with  all  that 
has  been  urged  against  him,  the  people  still  cry,  give  us 
Cleveland?  Why  is  it,  though  he  has  pronounced  in 
honest,  clear  and  able  language  his  views  upon  questions 
over  which  some  of  his  party  may  differ  with  him,  that  he 
is  still  near  and  dear  to  the  masses  ? 

"  It  is  because  he  has  crystallized  into  a  living  issue  the 
great  principle  upon  which  this  battle  is  to  be  fought  out. 
If  he  did  not  create  tariff  reform,  he  made  it  a  Presidential 
issue.  He  vitalized  it,  and  presented  it  to  our  party  as  the 
issue  for  which  we  ought  to  fight  and  continue  to  battle 
until  upon  it  victory  is  now  assured." 

The  repudiation,  by  the  Convention,  of  a  conservative 
Tariff  and  Labor  plank,  as  reported  in  the  platform  by  the 
Committee  on  Resolutions,  and  the  adoption,  by  over- 
whelming vote,  of  a  substitute  so  radical  as  to  force  the 
conviction  that  it  would  endanger  the  success  of  the  party, 
even  if  it  were  not  designed  as  a  blow  at  Mr.  Cleveland's 
prospects,  showed  that  the  battle  of  the  campaign  was  to 
be  a  close  and  direct  engagement  between  the  forces  that 
looked  toward  free  trade  and  those  bound  to  uphold  pro- 
tection. There  was  to  be  no  shirking  of  a  square  issue  by 
Democracy,  no  further  temporizing  with  situations,  no  more 
glossing  of  principles  with  words,  no  cessation  of  conflict 
till  triumph  was  complete,  if  the  platform  meant  what  it 
said. 

It  is  not  enough  to  say  that  the  language  of  this  plank 
was  unprecedentedly  strong.  It  was  both  denunciatory 
and  defiant.  It  ran  : — "  We  denounce  Republican  Protec- 
tion as  a  fraud — as  a  robbery  of  a  great  majority  of  the 
American  people  for  the  benefit  of  a  few.  We  declare  it  to 
be  a  fundamental  principle  of  the  Democratic  party  that  the 


REVOLUTION  OF  1892.  359 

Government  has  no  constitutional  power  to  impose  and 
collect  a  dollar  of  tax  except  for  purposes  of  revenue  only, 
and  demand  that  the  collection  of  such  taxes  be  imposed  by 
the  Government  when  only  honestly  and  economically  ad- 
ministered. We  denounce  the  McKinley  Tariff  law  enacted 
by  the  Fifty-first  Congress  as  the  culminating  atrocity  of 
class  legislation.  We  endorse  the  efforts  made  by  the 
Democrats  of  the  present  Congress  to  modify  its  most 
oppressive  features  in  the  direction  of  free  raw  materials 
and  cheaper  manufactured  goods  that  enter  into  general 
consumption,  and  we  promise  its  repeal  as  one  of  the 
beneficent  results  that  will  follow  the  action  of  the  people 
in  entrusting  power  to  the  Democratic  party.  Since  the 
McKinley  tariff  went  into  operation  there  have  been  ten 
reductions  of  wages  of  laboring  men  to  one  increase. 
We  deny  that  there  has  been  an  increase  of  prosperity  to 
the  country  since  that  tariff  went  into  operation,  and  we 
point  to  the  dulness  and  distress,  the  wage  reductions  and 
strikes  in  the  iron  trade  as  the  best  possible  evidence  that 
no  prosperity  has  resulted  from  the  McKinley  Act." 

Every  other  issue,  as  gauged  by  the  platform — that 
relating  to  the  Force  Bill,  to  Reciprocity,  to  Trusts,  to 
Republican  methods  of  disposing  of  the  public  lands,  to 
silver  coinage,  to  the  repeal  of  the  tax  on  State  banks,  etc., 
etc. —  was  presented  in  true  platform  style,  that  is,  was 
worded  conservatively  or  evasively,  and  so  as  to  be  sus- 
ceptible of  interpretation  according  to  circumstances  as 
they  might  arise,  excepting  only  that  relating  to  the  repeal 
of  the  ten  per  cent,  tax  on  State  Bank  circulation,  which 
was  emphatic.  The  cardinal  feature  of  the  platform,  its 
supreme  intent,  was  antagonism  to  protection,  and  the 
campaign  was  to  hinge  on  this  issue.  Every  existing  con- 
dition encouraged  to  this  form  of  conflict  and  bespoke  its 


360  REVOLUTION  OF  1892. 

timeliness  from  a  Democratic  point  of  view.  As  an  issue 
presented  by  Mr.  Cleveland  in  1887,  but  never  so  fully 
formulated  as  now,  and  never  so  squarely  drawn,  it  had 
been  time  and  again  thwarted  by  public  sentiment,  yet  had 
as  often  been  on  top.  Its  defeat  in  1888  had  carried  down 
Mr.  Cleveland  and  proved  the  opportunity  for  the  McKinley 
law,  yet  the  overwhelming  Democratic  victories  of  two  years 
later  had  been  almost  wholly  credited  to  the  said  issues. 
There  was  labor  discontent  of  a  certain  kind,  whose  chief 
manifestation  was  in  the  Homestead  strike,  a  strike  of  great 
violence,  and  one  whose  sequel  proved  to  be  full  of  sur- 
prises, in  that  it  revealed,  upon  Congressional  investigation,- 
a  scale  of  wages  and  a  state  of  facts  that  disrobed  it  of 
occasion,  even  if  it  did  not  disarm  it  of  justice.  Still 
there  was  enough  in  it,  at  least  as  to  time,  to  base  the  bold 
assertions  of  the  platform  upon,  and  to  render  lurid  what 
might  have  been  otherwise  tame  in  campaign  oratory. 

It  was  a  period  of  industrial  adjustment  to  the  operations 
of  the  McKinley  Act.  As  yet  but  little  could  be  proved 
for  the  act  in  its  special  workings.  Most  of  the  argument 
in  its  favor  would  have  to  be  general,  or  based  on  hur- 
redly  prepared  statistics.  The  enemy,  therefore,  could 
occupy  the  field  of  detailed  attack  without  fear.  They 
could  hurl  theories  and  assertions  indiscriminately.  Con- 
jecture would  answer  all  the  purposes  of  argument,  and 
prophesy  all  the  purposes  of  proof. 

Again,  the  timeliness  of  the  proposed  battle  against  pro- 
tection was  foreshadowed  by  that  peculiar  vein  of  discon- 
tent which  had  been  gathering  force  for  some  years,  and 
had  found  coherent  expression  in  the  Ocala  platform  of  the 
Farmers'  Alliance.  This  pointed  to  a  new  factor  in  poli- 
tics, whose  locality  and  sentiments  must  prove  a  source  of 
weakness  to  the  Republicans.  True,  it  might  prove  dan- 


REVOLUTION  OF  1892.  361 

gerous  to  the  Democrats,  for  the  Alliance  had  pervaded  the 
South.  But  Democratic  discipline  was  such  in  the  South- 
ern States,  as  that  danger  of  disruption  was  reduced  to  a 
minimum.  It  was  not  so,  however,  in  the  Northwest, 
where  Republican  discipline  had  been  broken,  and  where 
the  discontent  was  even  more  rife  than  in  the  South. 

This  new  factor  assumed  definite  shape  at  Omaha,  on 
July  4,  1892,  two  weeks  after  the  Democratic  Convention, 
under  the  title  of  the  "  People's  Party,"  which  gradually 
passed  to  the  title  of  "  Populists."  It  proclaimed  the  hon- 
orable intention  of  starting  for  itself  and  of  antagonizing 
'both  the  existing  parties,  at  least  it  said  in  its  platform, 
"  We  have  witnessed  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
the  struggles  of  the  two  great  political  parties  for  power 
and  plunder,  while  grievous  wrongs  have  been  inflicted 
upon  the  suffering  people.  We  charge  that  the  controlling 
influences  dominating  both  these  parties  have  permitted  the 
existing  dreadful  conditions  to  develop  without  serious 
effort  to  prevent  or  restrain  them.  Neither  do  they  now 
promise  us  any  substantial  reform.  They  have  agreed 
together  to  ignore  in  the  coming  campaign  every  issue  but 
one.  They  propose  to  drown  the  outcries  of  the  plundered 
people  with  the  uproar  of  a  sham  battle  over  the  tariff,  so 
that  capitalists,  corporations,  national  banks,  rings,  trusts, 
watered  stock,  the  demonetization  of  silver,  and  the  oppres- 
sions of  the  usurers,  may  all  be  lost  sight  of." 

But  in  spite  of  this  profession  of  independency,  it  uncon- 
sciously amplified  Democratic  doctrine,  and  in  many 
instances  almost  repeated  "Democratic  assertion,  in  another 
part  of  its  platform,  which  reads  : — "  We  meet  in  the  midst 
of  a  nation  brought  to  the  verge  of  moral,  political  and 
material  ruin.  Corruption  dominates  the  ballot  box,  the 
legislatures,  the  Congress,  and  touches  even  the  ermine  of 


362  REVOLUTION  OF  1892. 

the  bench.  The  people  are  demoralized ;  most  of  Ihe 
States  have  been  compelled  to  isolate  the  voters  at  the  poll- 
ing places  to  prevent  universal  intimidation  and  bribery. 
The  newspapers  are  largely  subsidized  or  muzzled ;  public 
opinion  silenced ;  business  prostrated ;  our  homes  covered 
with  mortgages ;  labor  impoverished ;  and  the  lands  con- 
centrated in  the  hands  of  capitalists.  The  urban  workmen 
are  denied  the  right  of  organization  for  self-protection ; 
imported  pauperized  labor  beats  down  their  wages ;  a  hire- 
ling standing  army  unrecognized  by  our  laws,  is  established 
to  shoot  them  down,  and  they  are  rapidly  degenerating  into 
European  conditions.  The  fruits  of  the  toil  of  millions  are 
boldly  stolen  to  build  up  colossal  fortunes  for  a  few,  un- 
precedented in  the  history  of  mankind ;  and  the  possessors 
of  these  in  turn,  despise  the  Republic  and  endanger  liberty. 
From  the  same  prolific  womb  of  governmental  injustice  we 
breed  the  two  great  classes — tramps  and  millionaires." 

While  the  dominant  thoughts  of  the  platform  were  free 
and  unlimited  Coinage  of  the  precious  metals,  a  graduated 
income  tax,  and  the  nationalization  of  corporate  service, 
the  last  two  of  which  are  found  in  the  platform  of  the 
National  Socialists  of  the  same  year,  the  spirit  of  its  decla- 
rations and  recitals  was  almost  identical  with  that  which 
Democracy  had  hoped  to  successfully  invoke  in  the  strong 
language  of  its  platform,  and  conjure  with  it  in  its  cam- 
paign. 

Of  the  other  elements  that  enter  into  the  battle  of  1892, 
the  Prohibitionists  and  National  Socialists  need  not  be 
more  than  mentioned.  However  earnest,  they  were  not 
numerically  strong  enough  to  affect  the  results. 

As  the  period  for  active  battle  approached  it  was  seen 
that  such  a  perfect  alignment  of  forces  as  had  been  antici- 
pated, or  was  desirable,  was  well  nigh  out  of  the  question. 


REVOLUTION  OF  1892.  363 

Mr.  Harrison's  letter  of  acceptance,  dated  September  3, 
1892,  gave  to  Republicanism  its  definite  campaign  bearings, 
and  mapped  its  lines  of  aggressive  action.  It  reviewed  the 
achievements  of  the  Republican  party  since  the  Civil  War, 
and  showed  how  its  greatest  triumphs  and  best  settled 
principles,  especially  as  they  related  to  the  national  cur- 
rency, to  ocean  commerce,  to  the  doctrine  of  reciprocal 
trade,  to  internal  industries,  to  home  and  foreign  policies, 
were  directly  antagonized  by  the  declarations  and  intentions 
of  Democracy.  He  then  marshalled  the  figures  at  command, 
which  as  yet  were  all  too  sparce,  showing  how  the  new  tariff 
act  of  1 890  had  already  decreased  the  cost  of  articles  of  neces- 
sity which  were  in  competition  with  the  same  class  of  foreign 
articles ;  how  there  had  been  an  increase  in  the  price  of 
farm  products  owing  to  an  extension  of  commerce  under 
the  reciprocity  treaties ;  how  wages  had  advanced  on  an 
average  of  nearly  one  per  cent. ;  and  how  the  general 
operations  of  the  act  were  upholding  it  as  a  brave  attempt 
on  the  part  of  a  patriotic  and  highly  industrial  country  to 
rid  its  people  of  foreign  monopoly  on  such  important  pro- 
ductions as  tin-plate,  pearl  buttons,  silk  plushes,  linens, 
laces,  etc.  etc.,  and  establish  complete  commercial,  manu- 
facturing and  agricultural  independence.  The  document 
also  reviewed  the  questions  of  bimetallism,  of  "  A  free  ballot 
and  fair  count,"  of  the  Civil  Service,  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal, 
of  immigration,  and  of  the  existing  foreign  policy  of  the 
Republic,  and  explained  fully  the  attitude  of  the  Republi- 
cans respecting  each  of  them.  It  concluded  with  a  strong 
contrast  between  the  Democratic  "  program  of  demolition  " 
and  the  Republican  policy  of  "  safe  progression  and  de- 
velopment." The  paper  was  distinctly  in  line  with  the 
party  platform,  and  equally  in  keeping  with  the  course  of 
the  existing  administration.  It  was  eminently  satisfactory 


364  REVOLUTION  OF  1892. 

to  the  party  leaders  and  to  the  rank  and  file,  and  offered 
what  was  considered  as  an  impenetrable  front  to  the  enemy. 

After  some  delay,  Mr.  Cleveland's  letter  of  acceptance 
appeared  on  September  26.  It  reviewed  at  length  the 
Republican  dogma  of  protection,  treating  it  as  a  form  of 
federal  taxation  for  the  "  express  purpose  of  promoting 
special  interests  and  enterprises ;  "  as  "  a  system  directly 
antagonized  by  every  sentiment  of  justice  and  fairness  of 
which  Americans  are  pre-eminently  proud ; "  and  as  im- 
posing a  harder  home  life  upon  our  farmers  and  working- 
men,  while  it  invited  to  extravagance  and  corruption  in 
political  affairs.  The  review  of  this  important  issue,  was, 
thus  far,  along  the  lines  of  the  Chicago  platform,  but  then 
came  a  national  modification  of  the  bolder  platform  utter- 
ances. "Tariff  reform  is  still  our  purpose,"  the  document 
averred.  "  Though  we  oppose  the  theory  that  tariff  laws 
may  be  passed  having  for  their  object  the  granting  of  dis- 
criminating and  unfair  govermental  aid  to  private  ventures, 
we  wage  no  exterminating  war  against  American  interests^ 
We  believe  a  readjustment  can  be  accomplished  in  accord- 
ance with  the  principles  we  profess  without  disaster  or 
demolition.  .  .  .  We  will  rely  upon  the  intelligence 
of  our  fellow  countrymen  to  reject  the  charge  that  a  party 
comprising  a  majority  of  our  people  is  planning  the  destruc- 
tion or  injury  of  American  interests,  and  we  know  they 
cannot  be  frightened  by  the  spectre  of  impossible  free 
trade." 

The  paper  then  went  on  with  a  review  in  brief  of  "  Free 
Elections,"  the  gold  and  silver  question,  Civil  Service  re- 
form, pensions,  immigration  and  the  World's  Fair,  from 
the  usual  Democratic  standpoint.  It  was  received  as  an 
ably  conservative  paper,  and  one  likely  to  set  a  style  of 
campaign  which  would  be  safer  than  that  prefigured  by  the 


REVOLUTION  OF   1892.  365 

radicalism  of  the  platform.  Wherein  it  proved  distaseful 
to  the  element  that  had  triumphed  in  the  Convention — an 
element  that  could  be  trusted  for  its  fidelity  to  party  under 
any  circumstances,  it  proved  gratifying  to  those  on  whom 
party  allegiance  sat  more  lightly,  and  especially  to  that 
floating  contingent  which  regarded  Mr.  Cleveland  as 
stronger  than  his  party,  and  which  trusted  more  to  his 
personalism  for  victory  than  to  argument  or  oratory. 

It  remained  for  General  Weaver,  the  Populist  candidate, 
to  close  the  lines  of  conflict  by  his  letter  of  acceptance. 
He  followed  closely  the  utterances  of  his  party  platform 
by  announcing  that  "  The  people  are  in  poverty.  Their 
substance  is  being  devoured  by  heartless  monopolists, 
trusts,  pools  and  money  sharks.  Labor  is  largely  unem- 
ployed, and  where  work  is  obtainable  the  wages  paid  are  for 
the  most  part  unremunerative  and  the  products  of  labor 
not  paying  the  cost  of  production."  Then  the  paper 
showed  how  the  leaders  of  the  dominant  parties  were  under 
the  control  of  monopoly  and  the  money  centers,  and  how 
they  neglected  the  problems  evolved  by  the  growth  of  the 
last  quarter  of  a  century.  In  the  midst  of  their  sham  battles 
the  work  of  spoliation  and  robbery  went  on,  and  farmers 
and  wage-earners  everywhere  were  proscribed,  maltreated 
and  brought  into  competition  with  convict  labor.  Then  fol- 
lowed an  attack  upon  dishonest  elections  and  an  invocation 
to  all  to  enlist  under  the  banner  of  "  this  great  industrial 
and  fraternal  movement,"  which  had  for  its  object  a  "  re- 
vival of  business,"  "  relief  of  depressed  industries  and  wage 
workers,"  "  increase  of  the  currency  and  the  free  coinage 
of  silver,"  "  abolition  of  banks  of  issue  and  constitu- 
tional control  of  the  great  instruments  of  commerce  by 
the  United  States,"  "  equitable  adjustment  of  taxation  to 
property ; "  "  the  holding  of  the  public  domain  in  trust  for 


366  REVOLUTION  OF   1892. 

the  people,"  "  the  rendering  of  the  highways  between  the 
States  subservient  to  the  general  good,"  "  the  restoration  of 
fraternity  and  the  obliteration  of  sectionalism." 

This  paper  did  not  lack  in  fire  and  boldness,  and  proved 
highly  acceptable  to  all  who  were  nursing  the  spirit  of  un- 
rest, and  longing  for  that  halcyon  time  when  the  old  order 
of  things  should  have  passed  away  and  been  succeeded  by 
that  system  of  Communism  which  is  best  described  as 
Nationalism. 

As  thus  shaped,  up  the  various  forces  plunged  into  the 
campaign  of  1892.  The  campaign  may  be  characterized  as 
one  of  peculiarities  from  beginning  to  end.  It  bade  fair  to 
be  a  campaign  of  excitement,  yet  it  proved  to  be  compara- 
tively subdued.  Its  initiative  had  the  elements  of  bitterness 
in  it,  yet  it  was  free  from  personal  aspersion  and  from  the  usual 
rancor  of  party  conflict.  The  Democrats  entered  it  with  the 
confidence  inspired  by  the  remarkable  victories  of  1890, which 
had  involved  in  one  form  and  another,  and  as  suited  the  respec- 
tive localities,  the  very  questions  respecting  the  tariff  and  free- 
trade  which  they  now  intended  to  press  to  a  final  issue. 
They  had  now  but  to  repeat  the  assertions  and  arguments 
of  the  former  year,  and  to  intensify  them  by  draughts  on 
the  imagination,  in  order  to  bring  about  the  same  results. 
Everywhere  in  the  South  they  could  supplement  economic 
argument  by  appeals  to  the  feeling  which  existed  against 
any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Government  to  enact  laws 
looking  toward  a  "  free  ballot  and  fair  count  "  in  Congres- 
sional elections.  So,  everywhere  throughout  the  Country, 
the  judicious  fanning  of  the  spirit  of  unrest,  the  broadening 
of  all  chasms,  real  or  fanciful,  between  labor  and  capital,  the 
sedulous  cultivation  of  that  dormant  and  inexplicable  desire 
for  a  change,  which  general  apathy  both  revealed  and  encour- 
aged, brought  untold  recruits  directly  to  the  Democratic  stan- 


REVOLUTION  OF   1892.  367 

dards,  diverted  them  indirectly  to  the  Populists,  or  rendered 
them  sullen  and  unenthusiastic  within  the  Republican  lines. 
They  had  in  Mr.  Cleveland  a  powerful  personalism,  repre- 
sentative of  the  masses  rather  than  the  leaders.  He  was  as 
one  born  under  a  lucky  star,  and  his  leadership  operated  as 
a  presage  of  victory.  It  is  doubtful  if  ever  a  party  entered 
a  campaign  so  fully  equipped  with  confidence.  It  clung  to 
this  confidence  throughout,  though,  as  we  shall  see,  it  gave 
reasons  for  believing  that  it  was  more  assumed  than  real. 

The  Republicans  had  an  equally  strong  personalism  in 
President  Harrison,  and  the  advantage  of  a  pure  and  able 
administration.  They  stood  squarely  on  their  record  and 
platform,  except  in  the  respect  that  they  weakened  on  the 
question  of  a  "  free  ballot  and  fair  count,"  and  drove  home 
upon  their  opponents  the  issue  of  protection,  of  standard 
bimetallic  dollars  and  of  opposition  to  a  wild-cat  currency. 
They  were,  throughout  the  Campaign,  as  confident  as  their 
opponents,  though  it  was  a  confidence  inspired  rather  by  the 
thought  that  the  prosperity  of  the  country  and  the  unassail- 
ability  of  their  arguments  rendered  them  impregnable,  than 
by  the  amount  of  enthusiasm  they  could  stir.  Whatever 
the  energy  of  the  leaders  during  the  campaign,  however 
invincible  the  arguments,  inspirational  as  may  have  been 
the  confidence,  there  never  was  a  time  during  this  very 
peculiar  campaign  when  the  lack  of  enthusiasm  among  the 
Republican  masses  did  not  occasion  eager  inquiry  as  to  the 
cause. 

The  Populists  pushed  their  Campaign  with  vigor,  espe- 
cially in  the  Northwest,  where  they  made  such  inroads  on 
the  Republican  organization  as  to  lead  to  the  hope  that 
they  might  be  instrumental  in  sweeping  several  States  from 
their  old  party  moorings.  Yet,  of  this  they  could  at  no 
time  have  been  fully  assured,  judging  from  the  sequel. 


368  REVOLUTION  OF   1892. 

It  had  been  all  along  conceded  by  the  dominant  parties, 
that,  as  of  old,  the  real  battle-ground  between  them  was 
the  States  of  New  York,  Connecticut  and  New  Jersey. 
This  was  but  natural,  not  only  as  other  presidential  battles 
had  gone,  but  because  the  issues  at  stake  were  vital  to 
these  States.  But  neither  party  had  as  yet  fully  counted 
on  the  magnitude  of  the  Populist  movement.  It  had  a 
direct  energy  in  certain  States  which  had  been  discounted 
without  fear  by  the  Republicans  in  their  calculations,  and 
an  indirect  energy  in  numerous  other  States  which  was 
really  the  cause  of  a  lack  of  Republicanism. 

And  now  came  that  period  in  the  Campaign  when  the 
Democrats  either  through  alarm,  or  by  virtue  of  a  judgment 
that  good  politics  did  not  require  them  to  hinge  a  verdict  on 
almost  a  single  Eastern  State,  resolved  upon  the  policy  of  af- 
filiation with  the  Populists.  This  policy  had  been  adopted  by 
several  of  the  State  organizations  with  every  show  of  suc- 
cess. It  remained  for  it  to  be  tried  in  a  National  sense,  and 
the  overtures  proved  mutually  agreeable.  If  successful  in 
this  sense,  Democracy  could  look  with  complacency  on  the 
loss  of  one  or  more,  or  perhaps  all,  of  the  doubtful  Eastern 
States,  yet  not  suffer  defeat,  for  the  loss  would  be  more 
than  compensated  by  the  loss  of  Republican  and  gain  of 
Populist  electors  in  other  places.  So  the  alliance  was  en- 
gineered and  perfected.  The  Democrats  practically  with- 
drew from  the  contest  in  many  of  the  States  of  the  North- 
west, agreeing  to  give  the  field  entirely  to  the  Populists,  or 
else  pledging  them  direct  support ;  the  Populists  doing  the 
same  where  the  Democratic  chances  were  stronger.  These 
alliances  were  accepted  by  the  National  Committees,  and 
with  a  joining  offerees  came  a  joining  of  material  aid  and  even 
of  speakers,  not  to  mention  that  complication  of  pledges 
and  promises  for  future  party  recognition  and  personal 


REVOLUTION  OF  1892.  369 

advancements  which  have  since  scandalized  and  tortured 
the  participants  in  the  deal. 

The  crucial  day  came,  and  the  result  was  one  of  the 
greatest  surprises  in  modern  American  politics — a  surprise 
in  which  all  parties  joined.  The  quietude,  not  to  say  apa- 
thy of  the  campaign,  led  to  a  vote  far  below  what  had  been 
counted  on.  The  grand  total  was  but  little  beyond  that  of  four 
years  before,  yet  it  was  one  fraught  with  marvellous 
changes,  and  it  was  apparent  that  the  strength  of  the  Pop- 
ulists had  been  furnished  chiefly  by  the  Republicans.  The 
figures  were 

Harrison  CleTeland  Weaver 

1888.       5438,157  5,535,626 

I892.       5,126,418  5,545,227  1,125,842 

The  elements  of  unrest  throughout  the  country,  and 
to  an  inordinately  large  extent  the  labor  which  had 
looked  to  protection  as  a  means  of  sustaining  wages,  had 
gratified  their  desire  for  a  change,  and  had  brought  about  a 
political  revolution,  whose  consequences  had  never  entered 
into  previous  calculations.  The  Populists  actually  carried 
four  States,  had  contributed  to  Republican  defeat  in  others, 
and  had  greatly  encouraged  the  idea  that  they  were  to  be- 
come a  permanent  factor  in  American  politics,  with  the 
elimination  of  one  or  the  other  of  the  dominant  parties. 
The  defeat  of  the  Republicans  was  far  more  decisive  than 
was  the  victory  of  the  Democrats,  for  the  latter  hardly 
knew  how  to  compute  the  extent  or  weigh  the  import  of 
their  alliances.  Their  confusion  in  the  midst  of  triumph 
almost  choked  the  voices  of  joy,  and  a  calm  after-view  of 
the  situation  was  appalling  rather  than  gratifying.  The 
glory  of  their  victory  had  been  somewhat  dimmed  by  a 

reduced  majority  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  but  this 
17 


370  THE  COUNTER  REVOLUTION  OF   1893. 

was  compensated  by  the  hope  that  when  the  fog  of  battle 
lifted  they  would  have  a  majority  in  the  Senate,  and  thus 
full  control  of  the  Government  for  the  first  time  in  thirty 
odd  years.  This  hope  was  realized,  for,  after  all  disputes 
were  settled,  they  could  count  on  a  majority  of  five  Sena- 
tors, with  the  probable  support  of  five  Populists. 

President  Harrison's  term  ended  in  the  usual  quiet  way 
after  a  party  reverse.  The  last  session  of  the  Fifty-second 
Congress  did  but  little  except  to  indulge  in  some  frantic  and 
useless  efforts  to  repeal  the  Sherman  Silver  Act  of  1890. 
Perhaps  the  most  notable  event  of  the  Session  was  the  sub- 
mission of  President  Harrison's  message,  which  abounded 
in  striking  contrasts  of  the  existing  state  of  the  country 
with  that  of  1 860,  and  which  was  evidently  intended  to  take 
advantages  of  such  contrasts  as  the  future  might  reveal. 

THE  COUNTER  REVOLUTION  OF  1893. 
Scarcely  had  the  presidential  vote  of  1892  been  counted 
and  announced,  when  there  was  manifested  an  intuitive 
recoil  from  the  result.  It  would  be  difficult  to  diagnose 
exactly  the  condition  of  public  sentiment.  It  was  clearly 
not  satisfied  with  its  own  verdict.  Doubt  seemed  to  haunt 
the  minds  of  those  who  had  contributed  to  the  revolution 
as  to  the  wisdom  of  their  action.  They  had  evidently 
struck  a  more  radical  blow  than  they  intended.  They  had 
made  a  change,  but  the  idea  began  to  dawn  that  change  just 
for  change  carried  no  guarantee  of  better  things.  They  had 
changed  from  a  tried  party,  which  they  knew,  to  one  whose 
stock  in  trade  was  an  aggregate  of  promises,  not  to  say  of 
negatives  on  existing  things.  True,  these  promises  were 
bold  and  these  negatives  positive,  yet  to  realize  them  might 
not  the  country  have  to  undergo  another  revolution  of  a 
material  kind  whose  hardship  and  expen.se.  would  prove  a, 


THE  COUNTER  REVOLUTION  OF  1893.  371 

poor  compensation  for  the  results  to  be  obtained  ?  Was  not 
the  triumphant  party,  it  to  which  the  usufruct  of  victory 
belonged,  handicapped  by  its  alliances  with  discontent,  and 
would  it  be  free  to  act  out  its  individual  program  of 
principles  ?  Even  if  it  were,  what  was  there,  after  all,  to  be 
gained  by  a  destructive  tearing  down  of  old  and  a  doubtful 
building  up  of  new  conditions  ?  And  so,  as  one  doubt 
after  another  arose,  one  question  after  another  was  mentally 
asked,  till  the  unrest  after  victory  was  equal  to  that  before 
victory. 

Every  contribution  to  the  situation  made  by  the  victors, 
augmented  the  unrest  and  anxiety.  The  choice  of  a  premier 
by  Mr.  Cleveland  showed  the  nature  of  the  contract  with 
the  Populists.  The  choice  of  the  rest  of  the  Cabinet 
revealed  the  intensity  of  his  personalism.  Could  dominancy 
in  the  party,  as  it  was  shaping  up,  escape  the  charge  and  the 
inevitable  fate  of  sectionalism  ?  What  was  there  in  the 
revelations  of  time  to  reconcile  the  new  situation  to  the 
large  vital  interests  of  the  country  ? 

The  ceremonies  of  inauguration  had  not  been  gone 
through,  the  oath  of  office  had  not  been  taken,  no  definite 
policy  of  administration  had  been  shaped,  till  the  demon  of 
unrest  was  abroad  in  the  money  centres,  in  the  walks  of 
manufacture  and  business,  and  down  to  the  very  depths  of 
the  laboring  classes.  They  who  had  cried  loudest  for 
opportunity  in  1892,  cried  louder  in  1893.  Before,  there  was 
the  sullenness  of  indifference  or  the  clamor  of  disquietude ; 
after,  there  was  no  little  of  the  bitterness  of  self-dissatisfac- 
tion mingled  with  the  anger  of  anticipated  disappointment. 
Whatever  the  sentiment  may  have  been,  and  however 
described,  it  was  far  more  emphatic  in  1893  than  in  1892. 
Indifference  had  given  way  to  earnestness.  The  non-voter 
became  a  voter. 


372  THE  COUNTER  REVOLUTION  OF   1893. 

The  year  of  crisis  and  panic  is  described  elsewhere  in  this 
volume.  The  common  schools  of  politics  had  never  been 
so  wide  open  before.  The  object  lessons  on  the  black-boards 
of  experience  had  never  been  more  vivid.  There  was 
nothing  national  at  stake  in  1893,  but  the  currents  of  senti- 
ment seemed  to  form  as  spontaneously  and  to  flow  as  swiftly 
as  though  some  universal  principle  needed  instant  espousal, 
or  some  impending  danger  needed  thwarting.  The  revolu- 
tion of  1892  lacked  deliberation.  It  came  suddenly,  and 
seemingly  in  spite  of  itself.  It  was  a  happy  combination  of 
causes  whose  origin  and  computation  defied  political 
arithmetic  and  whose  results  outstripped  the  wariest  political 
judgment.  The  revolution  of  1893  came  quietly,  swiftly, 
and  with  the  solemn  weight  of  premeditation.  It  savored 
not  of  indifferentism,  nor  of  inert  sullenness,  nor  of  whim, 
but  of  solemn  conviction.  It  was  as  if  something  had  been 
done  which  had  to  be  condoned.  Considering  the  fact  that 
three  factors  entered  into  the  revolution  of  1892,  that  of 

1893  was  marked   in   its   simplicity   and   striking   in    its 
emphasis.     It  was  a  far  more  formal  protest  than  that  of 
1892,  expressed  a  wider  extent  of  dissatisfaction  and  a  greater 
dread  of  danger.     The  reaction  carried  Republican  States, 
that  had  been  lost  in  1892,  back  to  their  moorings  with  the 
largest  majorities  in  their  annals.     Democratic  States  like 
New  York  and  New  Jersey  were  swept  by  the  Republicans 
by  majorities  which  were  surprises  to   both  parties.     The 
intensity  of  the  counter  revolution  led  to  the  belief  with 
some  and  the  hope  with  others  that  its  force  must  be  only 
momentary.     But  the  spring  and  early  summer  elections  of 

1894  confirmed  the  sentiment  which  brought  it  about.     In 
Oregon  the  Republican  vote  outnumbered  that  of  Democrats 
and   Populists    combined.     A  judicial    election  in   Illinois 
turned  a  confirmed  Democratic  circuit  into  a  Republican 


THE  COUNTER  REVOLUTION  OE  1893.  373 

one  by  an  impressive  majority.     Rhode  Island  changed  her 
political  complexion  entirely. 

And  as  the  days  of  1894  passed,  nothing  evolved  to  stay 
this  reaction  or  change  the  course  of  this  counter-revolution. 
It  was  given  impetus  by  the  President's  foreign  policy.  His 
financial  policy  increased  its  headway.  The  tedious 
wrangles  and  unseemly  scandals  attending  the  new  Tariff 
bill  added  to  the  strength  of  its  current.  A  strange  fatality 
seemed  to  preside  over  the  situation,  which  defied  every  art 
of  exorcism  at  the  command  of  those  whom  the  country 
held  responsible. 


THE  COMMERCIAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  CRISIS. 

THE  opening  of  the  second  and  final  session  of  the  Fifty- 
second  Congress,  on  Dec.  5,  1892,  gave  to  President  Harri- 
son his  last  opportunity  for  formal  review  of  his  adminis- 
tration, and  for  full  presentation  of  the  condition  of  the 
country  as  that  administration  drew  near  its  close.  His 
message  was  soon  to  have  a  significance  far  beyond  com- 
mon for  the  contrasts  it  would  afford.  Its  exact  figures 
were  to  stamp  a  situation  so  indelibly  on  the  minds  of 
readers  that  any  wide  departure  from  it  would  be  quickly  no- 
ticed. After  advising  the  Congress  to  which  it  was  addressed 
to  accept  the  verdict  of  the  country  and  throw  over  the  re- 
sponsibility of  tariff  revision,  as  well  as  all  other  issues  of 
vital  moment  involved  in  the  campaign,  upon  the  adminis- 
tration which  had  been  chosen  in  accordance  with  the  last 
wishes  of  the  people,  he  presented  a  series  of  comparisons, 
which,  in  view  of  what  was  soon  to  transpire,  assumed  all 
the  value  of  historic  contrasts.  He  said  : — 

"  In  submitting  my  annual  message  to  Congress,  I  have 
great  satisfaction  in  being  able  to  say  that  the  general  con- 
ditions affecting  the  commercial  and  industrial  interests  of 
the  United  States  are  in  the  highest  degree  favorable.  A 
comparison  of  the  existing  conditions  with  those  of  the 
most  favored  period  in  the  history  of  the  country,  will,  I 
believe,  show  that  so  high  a  degree  of  prosperity  and  so 
general  a  diffusion  of  the  comforts  of  life  were  never  en- 
joyed by  our  people." 

Then  were  presented  the  figures  upon  which  his  belief 
was  based.     A  few  of  them   must  prove  interesting  and 
valuable. 
(374) 


THE  COMMERCIAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  CRISIS.       375 

Total  wealth  of  Country  in  1860     .         .     $16,159,616,000 

"   1890      .         .     $62,610,000,000 
Railroad  mileage  in  1860         .         .         .  30,626  miles 

"1890         .         .         .          167,471     " 

Capital  in  Manufactures  in  1880       .         .      $1,233,000,000 

"         "  "  "    1890       .         .      $2,900,735,000 

No.  of  Employees  in  1880       ....       1,301,000 

"     "  "          "  1890        ....       2,251,000 

Wages  earned  in  1880      .         .         .         .          $501,965,000 

"         "         "   1890      .         .         .         .      $1,222,000,000 

Value  of  Products  in  1880       .         .         .       $2,712,000,000 

"  1890       .         .         .       $4,860,000,000 

Deposits  in  Savings  Funds  in  1860          .          $149,000,000 

"       "  "        "  1890  .       $1,524,844,000 

No.  of  Depositors  in  1860        ....          693,870 

"     "  "          "  1890        ....       4,258,893 

Value  of  Farm  Products  in  1860     .         .      $1,364,000,000 

"      "       "  "          "   1891     .         .       $4,500,000,000 

Many  other  figures  were  educed  showing,  among  other 
things,  the  immense  number  of  factories  started  in  1892, 
and  that  the  value  of  the  foreign  trade  for  that  year  ex- 
ceeded the  average  for  the  last  ten  years  by  $400,000,000. 

This  last  session  of  the  Fifty-second  Congress  attended 
only  to  routine  work.  It  did  nothing  to  affect  either  the 
political  or  industrial  conditions  of  the  country,  if  we  except 
the  muttering*  respecting  the  repeal  of  the  Sherman  coin- 
age act,  and  the  failure  to  pass  an  illy-constructed  repealing 
act.  It  was  under  these  flattering  auspices  that  President 
Cleveland  came  into  power  the  second  time,  on  March  4th, 
1893.  The  popular  acclaim  over  his  election  was  abun- 
dantly supplemented  by  the  eclat  of  the  inaugural  occasion. 
It  is  doubtful  if  any  President  ever  entered  upon  his  high 


376       THE  COMMERCIAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  CRISIS. 

office  amid  surroundings  so  well  calculated  to  stimulate  his 
pride  of  place  and  heighten  his  sense  of  official  responsibil- 
ity. Much  of  the  hostility  that  had  been  manifested  in  the 
convention  which  nominated  him  had  been  dissipated  dur- 
ing the  campaign.  He  had  managed  to  retain  that  almost 
idolatrous  hold  on  his  party,  and  on  certain  dissatisfied 
Republican  elements,  which  served  his  fortunes  so  well 
during  his  first  administration.  Perhaps  he  had  not  chosen 
his  cabinet  wisely,  for  it  was  seemingly  incongruous ;  but 
he  had  surely  chosen  it  with  a  consciousness  of  his  personal 
power  and  with  a  view  to  having  his  own  wishes  reflected 
in  its  councils. 

He  had  succeeded  in  defeating  an  opponent  who  was 
closing  one  of  the  purest,  wisest  and  most  satisfactory  of 
administrations.  He  had  proven  to  be  a  powerful  factor  in 
those  plans  which  were  shaped  for  the  purpose  of  dividing 
the  Republican  ranks  in  the  West  and  Northwest  and  thus 
rendering  victory  sure  without  the  aid  of  the  pivotal  states 
of  the  East.  If  there  were  present  any  elements  of  the  sud- 
den and  startling  revolution  which  seemed  to  daze  or  appal 
far-sighted  Democrats,  they  were  not  as  yet  so  apparent  to 
the  minor  leaders  or  party  masses  as  to  dim  the  glory  of 
Democratic  victory  or  lighten  the  humiliation  of  Republican 
defeat. 

-  President  Cleveland  accepted  the  situation  in  a  terse  and 
dignified  inaugural  in  which  he  took  the  occasion  to  warn 
the  parties  and  the  people  against  the  conditions  and  ten- 
dencies which  menaced  the  integrity  and  usefulness  of  the 
government ;  made  an  emphatic  demand  for  sound  money ; 
pronounced  against  government  paternalism ;  insisted  on  an 
economic  public  service ;  proclaimed  trusts  to  be  unwhole- 
some and  dangerous ;  repeated  at  length  and  with  greater 
emphasis  his  well-known  views  as  to  the  necessity  for  tariff 


THE  COMMERCIAL  AND   INDUSTRIAL  CRISIS.       377 

reform ;  and  concluded  with  an  expression  of  confidence  in 
the  wisdom  and  judgment  of  the  people.  The  message  filled 
every  measure  of  expectancy,  whether  viewed  from  the 
standpoint  of  friend  or  foe. 

The  Senate,  convened  in  extra  session  after  the  4th  of 
March,  brushed  away  the  clouds  which  concealed  its  politi- 
cal complexion  by  the  settlement  of  contests  for  seats,  and 
revealed  a  small  Democratic  majority.  This  was  an  addi- 
tional assurance  to  the  President,  and  a  harbinger  of  such 
political  unity  and  strength  as  Democracy  had  not  enjoyed 
for  over  thirty  years. 

But  this  roseate  and  inspiring  situation  changed  its  hue 
and  consistency  almost  as  if  by  magic.  Its  glories  were 
those  of  the  rainbow,  too  ethereal  and  resplendent  to  last. 
The  earliest  symptoms  of  change,  the  first  tangible  evidences 
of  doubt  as  to  the  realities  of  the  new  as  compared  with 
the  old  regime,  appeared  with  the  President's  recall  from 
the  Senate  of  the  treaty  relating  to  the  recognition  of  the 
popular  government  which  had  been  recently  formed  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  and  which  had  been  sent  to  that  body  for 
ratification  by  President  Harrison,  but  had  not  yet  been 
acted  upon.  This  recall,  and  the  hasty  sending  of  a  special 
commissioner  to  the  Islands,  whose  actions  seemingly  ten- 
ded to  thwart  the  efforts  of  those  who  had  set  up  a  popular 
government,  and  to  look  to  the  re-establishment  of  the  de- 
throned queen  and  the  re-habilitation  of  monarchy,  while 
the  report  of  said  commissioner  clearly  discredited  the 
regular  report  of  the  duly  accredited  U.  S.  Minister  to  the 
Islands,  sent  a  thrill  of  disappointment  through  the  national 
bosom.  The  inconsiderate  ordering  down  of  the  American 
flag,  which  floated  over  the  headquarters  of  the  new  govern- 
ment of  the  Islands,  and  served  to  symbolize  its  hopes  that 
annexation  to  the  United  States,  or  such  a  protectorate  as 


378        THE   COMMERCIAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  CRISIS. 

would  inspire  the  belief  that  the  independence  of  the  Islands 
would  come  about  in  time,  proved  to  be  a  shock  to  national 
pride,  and  a  damper  on  that  policy  of  annexation  which 
had  been  cultivated,  without  regard  to  party,  from  time 
immemorial  and  which  had  met  with  well  nigh  universal 
acceptance  in  the  American  mind. 

Even  if  a  counter-policy  was  to  prevail,  and  one  favor- 
able to  monarchy  as  against  a  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment for  the  islands ;  even  if  the  United  States  was  to  lose 
the  prestige  of  ownership  or  control,  and  an  invaluable  com- 
mercial vantage  ground  in  the  mid-Pacific  ;  even  if  the 
country  was  to  be  shocked,  and  plunged  into  mistrust  and 
criticism ;  there  was  still  something  more  dissatisfying  and 
pall-like  hanging  over  the  situation,  for  statesmen  of  all 
parties  could  not  be  brought  to  understand  the  nature  of  that 
new  departure  in  diplomacy  which  sought  success  at  the 
expense  of  a  policy  deliberately  adopted  and  fully  formu- 
lated by  a  preceding  administration.  It  was  thought  that 
Mr.  Cleveland's  Secretaiy  of  State,  who  had  but  recently 
put  off  allegiance  to  Republican  principles,  and  who  was  sus- 
pected of  nursing  resentment  against  Mr.  Harrison,  may 
have  too  strongly  advised  the  President  as  to  the  steps 
which  led  to  this  monumental  blunder  and  general  source 
of  suspicion  and  dissatisfaction.  But  the  master  and  not 
the  man  had,  in  the  end,  to  assume  the  responsibility,  and 
the  Hawaiian  affair  proved  blighting  to  the  patriotic  sense  of 
the  country  and  to  the  high  hopes  which  had  clustered  so 
thickly  around  the  new  Democratic  era. 

From  this  time  on,  the  shades  as  of  a  dismal  evening 
seemed  to  settle  thick  and  fast  on  every  energy  and  pros- 
pect. Despite  the  fact  that  the  Columbian  Exposition  was 
soon  to  inaugurate  a  jubilee  period  and  cause  a  flow  of 
money  and  a  buoyancy  of  spirit,  the  darkness  descended  in 


THE  COMMERCIAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL   CRISIS.        379 

deep  folds,  and  people  grew  less  confident,  more  nervous, 
more  agitated.  It  was  not  the  agitation  of  excitement  so 
much  as  of  instinctive  dread,  and  as  much  dread  of  what 
had  happened  in  political  circles  as  what  might  happen. 
The  more  the  people  returned  to  their  sober  senses  and 
studied  the  nature  of  the  political  revolution  of  1892,  the 
less  they  understood  why  it  had  come  about.  It  had  been 
so  sudden  as  to  be  amazing,  and  so  overwhelming  as  to  be 
appalling.  After  all,  was  there  not  more  danger  than  safety 
in  it,  more  of  disaster  than  prosperity  ?  Had  not  the  let- 
ting loose  and  the  fostering  of  the  elements  which  had  made 
it  possible,  to  say  nothing  of  the  probable  bargaining  for  the 
support  of  those  elements,  been  like  the  uncaging  of  a  fierce 
lion,  or  the  breaking  of  a  great  gun  from  its  fastenings  on 
the  lower  deck  of  a  ship  ?  Would  the  powers  that  had 
encouraged  these  discordant  elements,  and  had  so  largely 
and  significantly  profited  by  them,  be  able  to  cohere  and 
control  them  ?  Would  they  not,  in  the  end,  prove  stronger 
than  their  masters,  or  at  least  so  formidable  as  to  baffle 
every  wise  administrative  plan  ?  Would  Mr.  Cleveland, 
even  with  his  hard  determination  of  purpose,  be  strong 
enough,  in  the  face  of  such  tumultuous  situations,  to  hold 
his  own  party  together,  or  to  formulate  for  it  any  wise  or 
courageous  policy  ?  Was  not  the  political  ship  at  sea  with- 
out anchor,  and  already  tossed  by  storms  which  threat- 
ened to  engulf  it?  These,  and  myriads  of  similar  questions 
ruled  the  thought  of  the  hour.  They  were  asked  by 
thinkers  of  all  shades  of  politics,  but  they  had  their  greatest 
significance  when  asked  by  sage  men  in  the  counting-houses, 
the  factories  and  banking-houses  of  the  country.  They 
were  asked  with  quivering  lip,  blanched  face  and  anxious 
gaze.  The  ominous  silence  with  which  they  were  received 
only  served  to  increase  the  anxiety  and  deepen  the  appre- 


3&>       THE   COMMERCIAL  AND   INDUSTRIAL   CRISIS. 

hension  of  the  questioner.  Would  that  some  one  could  tell 
what  the  past  meant ;  would  that  some  one  would  rise  up 
and  lift  the  veil  from  the  future. 

At  length  the  feeling  of  discontent  began  to  shape  itself 
into  a  sense  of  danger  in  the  commercial  centres,  and  the 
demand  arose  for  a  monetary  policy  on  the  part  of  the 
Administration.  Imports  were  rapidly  falling  off,  and  with 
them  the  public  revenues  from  duties  were  decreasing. 
The  revenue  from  internal  taxes  was  rapidly  diminishing. 
The  gold  reserve  in  the  Treasury,  which  had,  by  tacit 
agreement  among  all  financiers,  been  kept  above  $100,- 
000,000,  that  being  the  least  sum  considered  safe  as  security 
for  the  outstanding  and  depreciated  currency,  was  being 
gradually  carried  away  to  Europe,  and  was  already  far 
below  the  $100,000,000  deemed  requisite  for  the  mainten- 
ance of  the  national  credit.  This  export  of  gold  was  ac- 
counted for  by  the  fact  that  where  two  currencies,  as  of 
silver  or  gold,  or  rather  one  depreciated  and  the  other  ap- 
preciated, are  co-existant,  the  better  currency  retreats  to 
the  closet  or  to  another  country,  leaving  the  field  to  the 
depreciated  currency. 

There  had  hitherto  been  no  danger  in  this  situation,  be- 
cause the  Treasury  gold  reserve  had  been  kept  above  $100,- 
000,000,  which  was  deemed  ample  to  float  our  silver  cur- 
rency. Moreover,  it  had  been  the  standing  policy  to  pre- 
serve a  true  and  equal  bi-metalic  standard,  by  redeeming 
silver  certificates  in  the  coin  of  the  realm ;  that  is,  in  gold, 
as  the  par  coin.  Thus  the  silver  dollar  and  its  representa- 
tive, the  silver  certificate,  were  made  as  good  as  any  other 
dollar,  and  the  two  existing  currencies  co-operated  with  one 
another,  neither  driving  one  another  out  nor  being  driven. 
There  was,  therefore,  no  danger  of  what  now  was  feared, 
and  what  was  clearly  pointed  out  as  inevitable  by  the  export 


THE  COMMERCIAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  CRISIS.       381 

of  gold  and  the  depletion  of  the  Treasury,  viz:  a  silver 
medium  to  the  exclusion  of  gold. 

Unfortunately  for  the  situation,  there  were  many  incidents 
to  it  which  served  to  intensify  the  feeling  of  danger  and 
propel  toward  the  disasters  in  store.  The  record  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Mr.  Carlisle,  had  been,  in  both 
House  and  Senate,  that  of  a  consistent  free  coinage  man. 
Much  of  his  financial  reputation  rested  on  this  line  of 
thought  and  speech.  The  sentiments  of  no  public  man 
were  better  known  respecting  silver  and  its  part  in  our 
national  currency.  No  views  had  been  more  eloquently 
and  persistently  set  forth.  Had  he  been  chosen  to  his 
responsible  office  by  Mr.  Cleveland  with  a  view  to  shap- 
ing the  financial  policy  of  the  Administration  along  his 
own  lines  of  thought  ?  Would  he  therefore  disappoint  the 
confidence  reposed  in  Mr.  Cleveland  as  an  opponent  of 
free  silver  coinage?  This  was  a  problem  which  vexed 
the  money  centres  and  contributed  greatly  to  the  prevailing 
uncertainties. 

It  is  almost  plain  that  there  was  now  in  the  situation  a 
doubt  and  foreboding  which  heralded  storm,  if  but  a  jar 
occurred  to  loosen  a  bolt  or  shift  the  position  of  a  cloud. 
That  jar  came  in  the  shape  of  an  intimation  from  Mr. 
Carlisle,  that  a  further  issue  of  silver  certificates  might  be- 
come necessary  in  order  to  keep  the  government  in  neces- 
sary funds.  Here  then  was  the  first  intimation  of  a  financial 
policy  on  the  part  of  the  administration,  the  delay  of  which 
had  already  given  rise  to  a  charge  of  indifference  on  the  part 
of  Mr.  Cleveland.  It  was  now  accepted  that  Mr.  Cleveland 
had  surrendered  his  bi-metallic  principles  to  Mr.  Carlisle, 
and  that  the  new  policy  was  to  be  that  of  an  exaltation  of 
silver  to  the  rank  of  an  independent  currency.  A  solid 
dread  fell  at  once  on  banks,  capitalists  and  the  various  corn.- 


382        THE   COMMERCIAL  AND   INDUSTRIAL  CRISIS. 

mercial  centres,  lest  the  country  should  be  plunged  into  a 
silver  medium  and  lose  its  gold  standard,  its  recognized  basis 
of  circulation  and  redemption,  and  its  high  credit  among 
commercial  nations. 

The  consequences  of  this  dread  were  speedily  visible 
everywhere.  All  the  fibres  of  commerce  and  industry, 
already  nervously  tight,  trembled  as  if  struck  by  a  heavy, 
hard  hand.  Credits  shrank  so  rapidly  and  ruinously  that 
the  country  was  plunged  into  the  hardships  of  crisis,  which 
needed  but  another  jar  to  open  into  the  awful  devastations 
of  full  panic.  Banks  closed  their  doors  by  the  hundred, 
drained  of  their  resources  by  excited  depositors,  or  as  a 
matter  of  protection  against  the  inevitable.  Banks  remaining 
open  refused  to  discount  the  best  of  paper,  and  even  to  cash 
checks  till  satisfied  that  the  money  was  designed  to  enter 
regular  lines  of  trade  as  a  necessity.  Corporations  and  firms 
were  refused  extensions  of  credit,  and  collections  being 
impossible,  they  went  into  bankruptcy  by  the  thousand. 
General  demoralization  spread  along  every  line  of  commer- 
cial activity,  and  the  stagnation  was  such  as  the  country  had 
not  witnessed  in  a  life-time. 

Something  must  be  done  to  relieve  the  appalling  pressure. 
Mr.  Carlisle  saw  the  unwisdom  of  his  intimation,  and  the 
President  took  occasion  to  hint  that  it  did  not  have  his 
sanction.  While  this  served  as  a  temporary  sedative,  it  by 
no  means  re-established  broken  confidence.  Indeed  the 
situation  grew  rapidly  worse,  for  lack  of  confidence  had 
proven  infectious  and  was  extending  along  the  channels  of 
industry  of  every  kind.  As  dark  a  cloud  was  sweeping 
over  the  industrial  world  as  a  month  before  had  wrapped  the 
commercial  world  in  dread  and  gloom.  What  the  President 
had  said  or  done  was  at  best  but  a  negative.  An  affirmative 
was  required.  He  was  chided  for  his  delays  in  shaping 


THE  COMMERCIAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  CRISIS.        383 

something  satisfactory,  and  urged  to  define  a  policy  the 
country  could  rely  on. 

A  large  sentiment.whether  justly  or  not  has  never  been  fully 
ascertained,  agreed  to  find  a  cause  for  existing  evils  in  the  ex- 
istence of  the  Sherman  coinage  act  of  1890.  Mr.  Cleveland 
was  known  to  favor  its  repeal.  If  he  could  be  brought  to  real- 
ize that  the  emergency  was  sufficiently  serious  to  warrant  the 
calling  of  the  Congress  in  extra  session  to  secure  such  repeal 
two  things  would  be  accomplished;  (i)  he  would  have  estab- 
lished a  policy  for  his  administration  from  which  it  would  be 
difficult  to  depart  with  honor,  and  (2)  actual  repeal  could  not 
fail  to  have  a  satisfying  result,  even  if  it  did  not  fully  stay 
the  ravages  of  the  crisis.  Moreover,  it  was  eminently  fitting 
that  the  Fifty-third  Congress  should  be  called  to  pass  on  this 
measure,  for  it  had  been  made  a  campaign  issue,  and  had 
been  thrown  over  upon  this  body  by  its  predecessor. 

Therefore  Mr.  Cleveland  was  strenuously  urged  to  call 
the  Congress  together  for  the  above  purpose.  But,  though 
his  own  mind  may  have  been  clear  as  to  the  propriety  and 
necessity  of  such  call,  he  was  hedged  about  with  difficulties 
which  he  could  realize  better  than  any  one  else.  While 
he  could  count  on  Republican  support  in  favor  of  repeal, 
though  that  support  would  be  given  with  no  thought  that 
the  disease  which  afflicted  the  country  was  more  due  to  the 
existence  of  the  Sherman  act  than  to  the  threat  which  hung 
over  the  industries  of  the  country  through  Democratic 
ascendency,  he  could  not  count  on  the  united  support  of  his 
own  party. 

He  knew  that  a  vigorous  and  persistent  sentiment  existed 
in  the  south  and  west,  among  Democrats  and  Populists,  and 
the  latter  may  have  obtained  a  balance  of  power  in  the 
Senate,  in  favor  of  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver 
and  of  its  use  as  a  currency  medium.  Therefore  he  was 


384       THE   COMMERCIAL  AND   INDUSTRIAL  CRISIS. 

not  sure  of  his  ground,  nor  did  he  feel  safe  in  relegating  so 
momentous  a  measure  to  an  untested  membership  till  the 
full  effects  of  the  crisis  had  been  felt  in  every  Congressional 
district,  and  had  served  to  educate  sentiment  up  to  the  duty 
of  repeal.  He  confided  more  in  the  merits  of  what  be- 
came known  as  his  "object  lesson"  than  in  the  demerits  of 
the  act,  or  any  hearty  existing  sentiment  against  it.  Hence 
he  delayed  the  call  of  the  extra  session.  This  delay,  while 
it  may  have  served  his  purposes  well,  only  intensified  the 
general  feeling  of  mistrust,  and  opened  the  flood  gates  of 
criticism  upon  what  was  deemed  a  cold,  hard-hearted 
policy. 

Meanwhile  the  "object  lesson "  was  entering  deeply 
into  the  mind  and  soul  of  every  section.  Crisis  swept  angrily 
along  like  waves  of  ocean,  threatening  an  outburst  of  panic 
as  they  reared  their  wild  crests  or  sunk  into  sullen  depths. 
Values  of  every  kind — farms,  stocks,  bonds,  mortgages, 
judgments,  all  evidences  of  credit — shrank  in  value  till  the 
depreciation  was  placed  at  figures  far  in  excess  of  the  entire 
cost  of  the  Civil  War,  till  the  income  of  countless  men, 
women  and  children  was  entirely  cut  off  or  reduced  far 
below  their  necessities,  till  commercial  credits  were  next  to 
an  impossibility,  till  solvent  banks  had  to  save  themselves 
by  calling  on  clearing  house  certificates  of  help,  till  inordi- 
nate hoarding  usurped  the  province  of  legitimate  invest- 
ment. 

At  length,  June  30,  1893,  the  President  issued  his  tardy 
call  for  an  extra  session  of  the  Fifty-third  Congress,  to 
meet  on  August  the  7th.  This  call  should  have  proved  an 
assurance  to  the  country,  if  there  was  anything  in  the 
popular  apprehension  that  the  existing  ills  were  due  to  the 
Sherman  act.  But  it  seems  the  country  was  suspicious  of 
its  own  judgment  in  this  respect,  or,  it  may  ^e  nearer  the 


HON.  JOHN  G.  CARLISLE. 

Born  in  Kenton  co.,  Ky.,  September  5,  1835;  educated  in  common 
schools  and  as  teacher;  admitted  to  bar,  1858;  member  of  Kentucky 
State  Legislature,  1859-61;  electe4  to  State  Sen.ite,  1866  and  1869; 
elected  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Stnte,  1871;  elected  to  45th,  46th,  47th, 
48th,  49th,  50th  and  51st  Congresses;  presided  as  Speaker  of  House  in 
48th,  49th  and  50th  Congresses;  a  dignified  officer  and  skilled  parlia- 
mentarian; elected  to  United  States  Senate,  ns  Democrat,  to  succeed 
Senator  Beck,  deceased,  May  17,  1890;  member  of  Committees  on  Fi- 
nance, Territories,  Canadian  Relations,  Indian  Depredations  and  Wo- 
man's Suffrage ;  conspicuous  in  party  affairs  and  a  recognized  exponent 
of  Democratic  thought. 

(370) 


THE   COMMERCIAL  AND   INDUSTRIAL  CRISIS.        387 

truth  to  say,  that  the  shrewder  minds  and  those  who  felt  the 
touch  of  hardship  most  keenly  in  their  factories,  stores, 
shops  and  homes,  took  no  stock  in  the  doctrine  that  the 
Sherman  act  was  responsible  for  the  deplorable  conditions, 
but  inclined  more  and  more  to  the  belief  that  the  bruised 
and  hapless  present  was  but  an  anticipation  of  a  more  deeply 
wounded  and  miserable  future.  At  any  rate,  between  the 
call  of  the  extra  session  and  its  meeting,  the  crisis  enlarged 
its  areas  and  assumed  more  tempestuous  and  ruinous  form. 

It  passed  from  its  commercial,  or  currency  stage  into  the 
industrial  domain,  and  swept  along  with  even  more  devastat- 
ing speed  than  before,  bearing  on  its  turbulent  crests  a 
wholesale  wreckage  of  manufacturing  firms,  furnaces,  mills 
and  enterprises,  and  leaving  a  distressing  wake  of  bankrupt 
capitalists  and  unemployed  operatives.  In  apprehension  of 
a  reduction  of  values  through  excessive  foreign  inportations 
made  possible  by  removal  of  duties,  merchants  everywhere 
and  in  every  line  cancelled  their  advance  orders  for  goods. 
The  manufacturers  who  survived  the  storm  on  reduced 
orders,  or  who  determined  to  brave  it,  found  themselves 
face  to  face  with  that  most  intricate  of  all  problems,  the 
problem  of  labor,  and  saw  no  peace  except  through  long 
and  tedious  battle.  The  operatives,  in  discontent  and  des- 
pair, took  up  the  strife  for  wages  in  their  own  way  and 
plunged  the  country  into  strikes  and  turmoils  which  bore 
crops  of  arsons,  cruelties  and  murders ;  and  led  to  a  spirit  of 
lawlessness  harder  to  eradicate  than  the  all  pervasive  effects 
of  the  most  direful  panic. 

On  August  7,  1893,  the  Congress  met  in  extra  session, 
with  a  large  majority  of  Democrats,  the  proportion  of 
parties  being  Democrats,  221;  Republicans,  125;  Popu- 
lists, 10.  It  organized  by  re-electing  Mr.  Crisp,  of  Georgia, 

as  Speaker.      President   Cleveland   sent   in   a   brief,  direct 
18 


388       THE  COMMERCIAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  CRISIS. 

paper,  calling  attention  to  the  unsatisfactory  commercial 
and  industrial  conditions,  limiting  the  session  to  the  object 
of  the  call,  which  was  the  repeal  of  the  Sherman  Act, 
and  using  every  argument  thus  far  evoked  by  politicians 
and  business  men  in  favor  of  such  repeal.  The  message 
was  well  received  by  the  Republicans  and  Democrats  who 
favored  repeal,  but  it  embittered  all  of  both  parties  who 
favored  free  coinage  of  silver.  As  a  vast  majority  of  the 
latter  were  Democrats,  the  President  ran  great  risk  of  dis- 
rupting his  party  and  defeating  the  purpose  of  his  call,  but 
he  trusted  largely  to  his  personal  and  administrative  powers, 
to  the  value  of  the  impressive  "  object  lessons  "  he  had  set 
the  country  for  the  few  preceding  months,  and  to  the  neces- 
sity for  party  cohesion,  especially  on  the  threshold  of  his 
administration,  to  sustain  him  in  his  course. 

The  House  went  at  once  to  work  to  achieve  repeal.  The 
Republicans  were  not  hostile,  except  those  of  the  free- 
silverite  faction,  but  they  took  occasion  to  emphasize  their 
belief  that  the  existing  crisis  was  due  more  to  the  threat 
upon  the  industries  of  the  country,  found  in  Democratic 
ascendency,  than  to  any  silver  legislation.  The  bill  passed 
the  House,  August  28,  by  a  majority  of  240  to  1 10.  In  the 
Senate  the  repealing  bill  was  taken  up  in  a  leisurely  way 
and  discussed  fully  for  a  period  of  two  months,  its  oppo- 
nents being  ever  on  the  alert  with  long  speeches  and  dila- 
tory motions.  It  finally  passed  the  Senate,  October  30,  by 
a  vote  of  43  ayes  to  32  nays. 

After  this  repeal  bill  became  law,  the  country  felt  a  sense 
of  relief.  But  it  was  only  momentary,  for  very  soon  it 
became  manifest  that  the  Sherman  Act  did  not  contain  the 
ills  attributed  to  it,  and  that  the  beneficial  results  expected 
to  flow  from  its  repeal  were  not  being  realized.  Though 
banks  felt  easier  and  credit  assumed  a  certain  degree  of  con- 


THE  COMMERCIAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL   CRISIS.        389 

fidence,  there  was  now  little  use  for  money.  Industrial 
enterprise  was  so  completely  paralyzed  as  to  be  utterly  with- 
out ambition,  and  investment  awaited  a  time  when  it  could 
be  assured  of  more  adequate  return  than  the  present 
promised.  The  time  for  the  meeting  of  the  Fifty-third 
Congress  in  first  regular  session  was  near  at  hand,  and  the 
business  world  looked  nervously  forward  to  the  attack  upon, 
and  overthrow  of,  the  fabric  of  protection,  together  with 
that  entire  change  in  our  commercial,  industrial  and  eco- 
nomic conditions  which  that  overthrow  implied.  It  was  a 
period  of  mental  suspense  and  material  suspension,  an  era 
of  waiting  and  collapse,  a  continuous  and  demoralizing 
crisis,  and  was  to  be  such  during  the  entire  period  of  the 
long  session  of  Congress,  which  period,  if  not  as  to  actual 
time,  at  least  as  computed  results,  measured  the  whole  of 
the  year  1894. 

The  approach  of  the  winter  of  1893  served  to  emphasize 
the  crisis,  by  introducing  into  the  gloom  of  existing  condi- 
tions the  elements  of  suffering  and  despair.  Armies  of 
idle  operatives  rose  in  the  cities  and  about  the  mining 
and  manufacturing  centres,  who  became  objects  of  charit- 
able solicitude,  and  the  problems  of  how  to  feed,  clothe  and 
warm  them  were  as  so  many  vexatious  additions  to  those 
already  distracting  the  land.  Happily,  philanthropy  proved 
equal  to  the  serious  occasion,  and  the  country  was  spared 
the  horrors  of  witnessing  scenes  of  starvation  and  the  dis- 
grace of  bread-riots,  which  so  often  accompany  enforced 
idleness  and  protracted  want. 


THE  COXEY  CRUSADE. 

ONE  of  the  most  remarkable  manifestations  of  the  unrest 
that  prevaded  the  years  1893  and  1894  was  what  became 
known  as  "  Coxeyism."  It  was  an  ebullition  of  such  a 
peculiar  kind  as  to  excite  at  the  start  only  jeers  and  ridi- 
cule. Then,  as  it  spread  and  insisted  upon  its  importance, 
it  drew  unmeasured  denunciation  on  the  one  hand,  and 
excited  curiosity  and  sympathy  on  the  other.  Finally  it 
encountered  the  law,  and  was  forced  to  yield  its  methods  of 
procedure,  which  was  equivalent  to  a  disintegration  of  its 
elements. 

In  organized  form,  Coxeyism  took  the  shape  of  an  army, 
or  armies,  called  variously  the  "Army  of  the  Common- 
weal," the  "  Army  of  Industrials,"  "  The  Industrial  Army 
of  Christ,"  "  The  Commonweal  of  Christ,"  etc.,  and  as  such 
it  was  supposed  to  supplement  its  political,  industrial  and 
social  aims  with  a  religious  enthusiasm  akin  to  that  which 
inspired  the  crusaders  of  old.  In  the  midst  of  all  the 
ridicule  heaped  upon  it,  it  found  comfort  in  the  comparison 
of  its  beginnings  with  those  of  Christ,  as  he  moved  about 
with  his  apostolic  band,  and  finally  made  triumphant  entry 
into  the  Hebrew  capital.  Whether  Coxeyism,  in  organized 
form,  was  a  mere  aggregation  of  tramps,  as  most  people 
seemed  to  think,  or  whether  the  legitimate  outcrop  of  serious 
conditions  ;  whether  it  was  only  social  froth,  or  the  precursor 
of  revolution,  it  was  a  fact,  and  one  of  sufficient  signifi- 
cance to  find  a  place  among  the  problems  which  politicians, 
sociologists  and  moralists  deemed  worthy  of  discussion  and 
solution. 

Some  have  found  its  prototype  in  that  English  Chartism 
(390) 


THE  COXEV  CRUSADE.  391 

of  fifty  years  ago,  which  assumed  the  material  form  of  the 
much-ridiculed  "  Manchester  Insurgents,"  and  marched  on 
Parliament  to  present  its  petitions.  Professor  Hourwitchf 
of  the  Chicago  University,  likened  it  to  the  old  Russian 
custom  of  organizing  "  petitions  in  boots."  He  said,  "  In 
Russia  it  frequently  happens  that  the  peasants  of  some 
remote  village  or  group  of  villages,  finding  no  relief  for 
their  grievances  from  the  home  authorities,  send  their 
delegates  to  bring  '  petitions  in  boots '  to  the  seat  of  the 
central  government.  The  '  weary  walkers,'  as  they  are 
called  in  Russia,  march  thousands  of  miles,  very  often 
begging  '  for  Christ's  sake.'  That  men  should  come  to 
the  adoption  of  such  methods  of  petitioning  in  America  is 
a  phenomenon  so  extraordinary  that  it  deserves  study  from 
another  than  a  policeman's  standpoint." 

Others,  again,  in  treating  the  matter  seriously,  found  the 
origin  of  Coxeyism,  the  source  and  secret  spring  of  all  its 
power,  in  the  existence  of  the  immense  number  of  unem- 
ployed. In  reasoning  from  this  standpoint,  a  learned  writer 
said :  "  Coxeyism  is  not  the  movement  of  one  man.  It  is 
as  little  the  handiwork  of  Coxey  as  the  French  Revolution 
was  the  work  of  Mirabeau  or  Robespierre.  Coxeyism  is 
a  kind  of  sporadic  growth — the  adoption  of  petitions  in 
boots  by  a  widely  scattered  group  of  miserable  men,  all  of 
whom  have  but  one  idea  and  one  prayer.  '  Work,  give  us 
work,'  is  their  cry ;  and  as  it  is  to  the  government  that 
they  address  their  prayer,  they  set  their  faces  toward  Wash- 
ington. Every  newspaper  blames  the  party  to  which  it  does 
not  belong  for  the  bad  times.  Politicians  habitually  speak 
as  if  prosperity  were  the  gift  of  the  administration.  The 
Federal  government  is  constantly  called  upon  to  play  the 
part  of  an  earthly  providence.  Coxeyism  only  asks  that  it 
shall  secure  work  for  the  unemployed." 


39*  THE  COXEY  CRUSADE. 

Another  regarded  Coxeyism  as  purely  an  evolution  of 
Coxey's  genius,  by  means  of  which  he  strove  only  for 
personal  fame.  This  is  the  reasoning : — 

"  Every  newspaper  reader  had  grown  weary  of  the  dis- 
cussion as  to  what  should  be  done  with  tramps  and  out-of- 
works.  It  seemed  almost  impossible  to  contrive  any  device 
by  which  this  grim  and  worn-out  topic  could  be  served  up 
in  good  salable  newspaper  articles.  But  Coxey  did  the 
trick.  Coxey  compelled  all  the  newspapers  of  the  country 
to  devote  from  a  column  to  six  columns  a  day  to  reporting 
Coxeyism,  that  is  to  say,  with  echoing  the  inarticulate 
clamor  for  work  for  the  workless.  That  was  a  great 
achievement.  To  have  accomplished  it  shows  that  Coxey 
is  not  without  genius.  No  millionaire  in  all  America 
could,  without  ruining  himself,  have  secured  as  much 
space  for  advertising  his  wares  as  Coxey  commanded 
without  the  outlay  of  a  red  cent,  by  the  ingenious  device 
of  his  petition  in  boots." 

On  the  theory  that  Coxeyism,  which  seemed  to  be 
a  western  emanation,  had  an  origin  in  causes  confined  to 
that  section  and  was  perhaps  an  outcrop  of  Populism,  cer- 
tain prominent  men  were  asked  to  give  their  opinions  of  it. 
Edward  B.  Howell,  of  Montana,  wrote : — 

"  The  Northwest  is  not  accurately  represented  by  the 
industrial  army  movements  of  this  region  any  more  than 
Coxey  represents  Ohio.  We  have  sympathized  with  these 
under-fed,  ill-clad,  penniless  men.  The  wild  flight  of 
'  Hogan's  Army '  down  the  Yellowstone  on  a  captured 
train,  their  speech-making  at  stopping-places  on  the  way, 
their  removing  of  obstructions  on  the  track  and  their 
careful  replacing  of  the  same  after  their  train  had  passed, 
and  finally  their  capture  by  Federal  troops  called  out  by 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  all  these  things  appealed 


THE  COXEY  CRUSADE.  393 

to  our  sense  of  the  ludicrous.  Perhaps  it  would  have  been 
more  respectable  from  an  Eastern  point  of  view  if  we  had 
been  shocked  and  indignant,  but  we  were  not.  We  have 
been  willing  that  these  men  should  seek  better  fortune  in 
the  East,  and  even  go  to  Washington  if  they  can  and  there 
make  exhibit  of  the  misery  which  evil  legislation  has  caused, 
but  we  have  not  sent  them  on  so  doubtful  a  mission." 

Professor  Macy,  of  Iowa,  wrote  "  I  believe  that  a  con- 
siderable factor  in  the  promotion  of  the  movement  is  due 
to  the  industrious  writing  on  the  part  of  the  newspapers. 
There  were  large  numbers  of  men  who  were  out  of  work, 
and  they  wanted  to  get  from  the  West  to  the  East.  After 
the  movement  was  started  there  were  many  who  availed 
themselves  of  the  cheap  transportation.  Some  of  the  men 
who  left  Kelly's  army  and  visited  our  town  frankly  stated 
that  they  joined  the  army  for  this  purpose.  I  can  with  some 
difficulty,  believe  that  there  were  those  in  the  army  who 
were  sincere  petitioners  for  the  avowed  objects  of  the 
movement." 

Richard  B.  Hassell,  of  South  Dakota,  wrote  "  We  have  no 
Coxeyites  in  this  State.  No  member  of  the  industrial  armies 
now  marching  to  Washington,  so  far  as  I  am  able  to  learn, 
comes  from  South  Dakota.  But  we  have  sympathizers 
with  the  Coxey  movement  by  the  thousand — sympathizers 
not  with  the  method  of  it,  but  with  the  purpose  of  it.  And 
this  sympathy  is  not  confined  to  the  Populists  of  the  State. 
The  fact  that  about  50  per  cent,  of  the  Kelly  wing  of  the 
industrial  army,  polled  when  passing  through  Iowa,  proved 
to  be  members  of  the  old  parties,  indicates  that  the  army  is 
not  a  Populist  movement ;  and  we  are  not  surprised  to  find 
a  general  sympathy  for  it  which  is  not  measured  by  party 
lines.  The  widespread  sympathy  grows  out  of  the  general 
recognition  of  the  very  serious  national  conditions  which 


394  THE  COXEY  CRUSADE. 

confront  us,  and  the  seeming  indifference  of  the  lawmaking 
power.  These  sympathizers  expect  that  the  Coxey  move- 
ment will  be  apparently  a  dismal  failure;  but  they  hope 
that  like  a  signal  of  distress,  it  will  attract  attention,  and 
result  in  a  well  considered  effort  to  bring  relief.  If  it  fails 
of  such  a  result  they  say  '  one  of  two  things  must  follow,  a 
revolution  or  a  strong  government.'  And  they  do  not  lay 
much  stress  on  the  strong  government  alternative  because 
they  do  not  believe  the  world  moves  backward." 

Said  J.  W.  Gleed,  of  Kansas  : — "  I  do  not  myself  attach  a 
great  deal  of  significance  to  Coxeyism.  That  I  take  to  be 
purely  a  temporary  thing.  We  know  that  we  had  the 
commercial  crisis  and  hard  times  and  that  men  were  thrown 
out  of  employment.  Nothing  would  probably  ever  have 
come  of  the  Coxey  movement,  but  the  newspapers  took  it 
up,  and  day  after  day  and  week  after  week  we  had  columns 
of  it  in  the  papers  all  over  the  West.  Take  men  who  were 
once  boys ;  let  them  be  without  employment,  with  the  time 
hanging  heavy  on  their  hands,  and  what  could  you  expect  but 
that  here  and  there  they  should  take  up  the  idea  and  say ; 
"  That  will  be  a  pleasant  way  to  pass  the  time.  Let's  have 
an  excursion  to  Washington.  We  have  nothing  else  to  do, 
and  why  not  that  ?  It  is  to  be  noticed  that  the  Coxey  armies 
have  come  almost  entirely  from  large  cities  and  mining 
country." 

After  this  general  glance  at  the  origin  of  the  "  Coxey 
Crusade  "  let  us  take  a  more  detailed  view  of  the  movement. 
The  hero  of  the  peripatetic  petition  was  one  Jacob  Sechler 
Coxey,  though  Carl  Browne  was  really  its  Peter  the  Hermit. 
Coxey  lived  near  Massillon,  Ohio,  where  he  .worked  a 
stone-quarry  and  reared  fancy  stock,  thereby  securing  con- 
siderable means.  It  is  said  that  his  vicinity  so  resembled 
a  mud-hole  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  as  that  he  became 


THE  COXEY   CRUSADE.  395 

a  monomaniac  on  the  subject  of  good  roads.  His  politics 
was  that  of  a  Greenback  Populist,  and  he  had  for  years 
striven  for  reform  in  the  existing  system  of  government, 
which  he  held  responsible  for  all  the  misery  of  the  times. 

His  views  as  to  good  roads  took  the  form  of  a  bill  which 
provided  for  the  issue,  by  the  Federal  Government,  of 
$500,000,000  in  Treasury  notes,  to  be  expended  wholly  in 
the  construction  of  good  roads  throughout  the  country, 
each  State  to  receive  an  appropriation  pro  rata  with  its  road 
mileage  and  to  employ  only  American  labor  at  wages  fixed 
in  the  bill. 

While  debating  as  to  what  to  do  with  his  bill,  he  met 
Carl  Browne  at  a  Populist  Convention  in  Chicago  in  1893. 
Browne  hailed  from  Calistoga,  California,  and  had  been  a 
life-long  labor  agitator  of  Anarchic  turn,  who  affected  Cow- 
boy dress,  and  united  a  good  deal  of  native  sense  with  a 
fair  degree  of  intelligent  expression.  A  friendship  sprang 
up  between  the  two,  and  out  of  it  grew  an  interchange  of 
confidences.  Browne  made  known  to  Coxey  that  he  had 
for  years  been  trying  to  organize  the  unemployed  and 
march  them  in  army  fashion  to  Washington  to  demand 
relief  of  a  "  money  enslaved  Congress."  He  had  failed 
through  want  of  funds.  Coxey  unfolded  his  wishes,  and 
they  agreed  to  pool  issues,  make  a  head-quarters  at  Chicago, 
and  begin  the  formation  of  a  Crusading  army. 

Coxey  returned  to  Massillon,  but  Browne  remained  in 
Chicago,  making  himself  so  conspicuous  and  offensive  at 
the  "  Lake  Front  Meetings,"  by  his  incendiary  speeches, 
that  he  was  expelled  from  the  city  by  the  Mayor.  But  he 
managed  to  return  and  preached  his  revolutionary  doctrines 
under  the  garb  of  a  patent  medicine  vender. 

In  November,  1893,  Coxey  decided  that  Massillon  should 
become  the  base  of  operations,  and  he  sent  for  Bowne  to 


396  THE  COXEY  CRUSADE. 

come  there.  Meanwhile  Coxey's  fertile  brain  had  evolved 
a  second  measure,  which,  if  incorporated  with  that  relating 
to  good  roads,  he  was  confident  would  bring  peace  and 
prosperity  to  all,  and  entitle  him  to  honors  such  as  had 
been  bestowed  on  national  benefactors  like  Washington  and 
Lincoln.  This  measure  provided  that  all  States,  counties 
and  municipal  corporations  could  issue  bonds  without 
interest  for  a  practically  unlimited  amount,  which  upon 
request  should  be  accepted  by  the  federal  government  and 
treasury  notes  given  in  exchange  up  to  the  limit  of  the 
issue,  less  I  per  cent,  for  cost  of  printing.  The  principal 
was  to  be  reducible  at  the  rate  of  4  per  cent,  per  year  and 
the  treasury  notes  were  to  be  utilized  for  public  improve- 
ments. 

The  two  leaders  were  now  together  as  to  the  essentials 
of  the  contemplated  campaign.  The  two  Coxey  bills  were 
to  be  forwarded  to  the  Congress  so  as  to  be  introduced  by 
March,  1894.  To  hasten  and  insure  their  passage  a  "  peti- 
tion in  boots  "  was  to  start  from  Masillon  on  Easter  Sunday 
and  by  overland  inarches  reach  Washington  on  May  I, 
there  to  hold  a  monster  mass  meeting  on  the  Capitol  steps 
at  noon. 

Meanwhile  the  work  of  army  organization  was  to  go 
on  quietly,  if  not  secretly,  for  it  was  not  till  January,  1894, 
that  the  plans  were  divulged  to  the  public,  and  then  not  by 
the  leaders,  but  through  the  enterprise  of  a  local  editor, 
who  fairly  revelled  in  the  magnitude  of  his  discovery,  and 
at  once  drew  public  attention  to  it  by  enlarging  upon  the 
novelty  of  the  scheme  and  dealing  in  unstinted  praise  of 
Coxey's  genius  and  wonderful  business  forethought. 

That  these  men  had  built  upon  a  more  than  average 
knowledge  of  the  labor  conditions  of  the  country,  is  not 
to  be  doubted.  Browne  had  been  a  wide  traveller,  a  shrewd 


THE  COXEY  CRUSADE.  397 

observer,  and  almost  a  life-long  agitator.  He  knew  well 
the  effect  of  an  incendiary  speech  upon  a  mob  of  idlers,  and 
had  at  his  command  all  the  arts  by  which  an  accomplished 
demagogue  encourages,  or  takes  advantage  of  discontent 
among  those  who  are  out  of  work.  It  is  plain  too,  that 
he  trusted  very  largely  to  the  efficacy  of  his  work  on  the 
Pacific  slope  and  throughout  the  far  West,  and  felt  that  it 
needed  only  the  further  encouragement  of  such  a  spectacu- 
lar exhibition  as  he  and  Coxey  were  now  to  give,  to  cause 
it  to  burst  into  the  bloom  of  effective  organization  every- 
where. In  this  he  was  not  mistaken,  for  as  soon  as  the 
plans  of  the  Massillon  campaign  were  announced,  with  all 
the  flourish  of  which  newspapers  are  capable  when  a  morsel 
so  tempting  enters  a  sensational  feast,  a  host  of  Common- 
weal armies  sprang  as  it  were  out  of  the  ground,  and  turned 
their  faces  toward  the  national  capital. 

These  leaders  had  rightly  computed  that  the  novelty  of 
their  scheme  would  prove  such  an  advertisement,  without 
cost  to  themselves,  as  had  never  fallen  to  any  other  labor 
movement.  They  counted,  and  in  this  their  judgment  failed, 
on  setting  in  motion  a  central  force,  which  would  prove 
attractive  of  all  the  elements  of  discontent,  and  which  would 
grow  by  daily  accretions,  till  it  finally  became  an  irresistible 
energy,  compelling  respectful  sentiment  and  accomplishing 
its  object  in  spite  of  legislative  obstacles. 

If  it  was  all  madness,  there  was  the  palliative  of  very 
shrewd  method  in  the  inception  and  completion  of  the 
scheme.  Coxey  fully  expected  to  lead  to  Washington,  or 
to  find  on  his  arrival  there  on  May  I,  an  army  or  aggre- 
gation of  100,000  men.  These  numbers  would,  in  his 
judgment,  be  reinforced  from  time  to  time  and  from  more 
remote  sections  of  the  country,  till  the  grand  and  imposing 
aggregate  of  500,000  was  reached.  This  would  be  but  one- 


398  THE  COXEY  CRUSADE. 

sixth  of  the  3,000,000  wage-earners  he  estimated  to  be  out 
of  work  at  that  time.  In  these  calculations  and  prophecies, 
Coxey  but  reflected  the  habit  of  all  agitators  to  adjust  their 
exaggerations  to  their  hopes  rather  than  to  their  real  expec- 
tations. His  Massillon  band  never  had  over  five  hundred 
members,  and  at  times  hardly  one  hundred.  The  same 
story  might  be  true  of  all  the  other  armies.  Some  one  has 
attempted  to  marshal  the  entire  Coxey  demonstration,  as 
follows  : — 

Commander.  Starting-point.  Number  of  men. 

Coxey,                            Massillon,  O.,  500 

Frye,                               Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  1,000 

Kelly,                             San  Francisco,  Cal.,  2,000 

Randall,                         Chicago,  111.,  1,000 

Hogan,                           Montana,  500 

Oregon,  900 

It  would  thus  appear  that  the  aggregate  of  active  cam- 
paigners never  arose  above  an  infinitesimal  proportion  of 
the  unemployed  in  the  country,  or  even  of  those  actually 
receiving  relief  from  charitable  organizations  in  the  re* 
spective  cities. 

If  the  above  figures  reflected  the  situation  even  approxi- 
mately, one  very  remarkable  feature  of  Coxeyism  was  its 
strength  on  the  Pacific  slope.  But,  as  has  been  seen,  this 
was  doubtless  due  to  Brown's  previous  efforts  there,  where 
for  years  he  had  been  an  agitator  and  petitioner  to  Con- 
gress, along  with  Dennis  Kearney  of  Sand-lot  fame.  The 
two  most  formidable  armies  started  from  the  Pacific  coast, 
Frye's  of  Los  Angeles,  and  Kelly's  of  San  Francisco.  Of 
the  other  armies,  two  took  their  rise  in  Oregon  and 
Montana.  The  only  important  body  of  men  not  directly 
recruited  west  of  the  Rockies,  or  directly  inspired  and 


THE  COXEY  CRUSADE.  399 

directed  therefrom,  was  Randall's  Chicago  army.  But 
even  this  was  brought  into  being  as  the  direct  result  of 
the  presence  of  Kelly's  California  army  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. The  armies  recruited  in  the  eastern  states  were 
contemptible  in  number.  The  Boston  army  never  ex- 
ceeded a  few  score  men,  and  that  from  Philadelphia  num- 
bered still  less. 

So  far  as  distances  were  concerned,  the  undertaking  of 
these  armies  was  stupendous,  yet  not  without  calculation. 
The  weary  tramp  of  hundreds  and  thousands  of  miles  was 
to  be  an  evidence  of  sincerity,  a  proof  of  energy,  a  source 
of  inspiration  to  all  the  elements  of  discontent,  a  mag- 
netism which  was  to  draw  all  kindred  particles  to  a 
common  nucleus,  an  incitement  to  popular  sympathy,  an 
appeal  for  shelter,  bread  and  clothing,  in  short,  the  exter- 
minator of  distance  and  the  possibility  of  success.  There 
was  little  purse  and  scrip  at  the  start.  Since  the  move- 
ment smacked  of  heavenly  ordination  and  looked  to  the 
universal  good,  it  was  to  be  its  own  moving  appeal  in  the 
name  of  charity,  and  was  to  meet  with  a  sympathy  and  a 
substantial  outpour  of  material  aid  equal  to  its  immediate 
needs. 

It  was  to  be  a  peace  movement,  and  no  doctrine  was 
more  rigidly  inculcated  than  peace.  In  the  main,  the  re- 
spective bands  behaved  themselves  with  commendable 
moderation.  The  immense  distances  from  West  to  East 
brought  the  Western  contingents  face  to  face  with  the 
problem  of  a  more  rapid  transportation,  with  a  change  of 
their  petition  in  boots  to  one  on  wheels,  and  they  occa- 
sionally stole  a  train  to  help  them  along,  but  in  this  they 
urged  the  immediate  necessity  of  transport  in  the  supreme 
cause  of  the  "  Commonweal "  as  a  set-off  to  any  charge 
of  force  or  stealing.  It  was  simply  borrowing  in  the  name 


4oo  THE  COXEY  CRUSADE. 

of  philanthropy  and  righteousness.  As  a  rule,  they  stole 
nothing  but  rolling  corporate  stock,  and  this  they  returned. 
They  did  not  burn  nor  murder.  It  was  not  incendiarism 
and  brutality  at  large  and  without  restraint,  as  is  too  often 
the  case  when  the  elements  of  discontent  burst  into  the 
appalling  frenzy  of  a  strike.  They  begged,  they  took  col- 
lections at  show-points  and  at  charitable  passings,  but  they 
did  not  rob  nor  resort  to  violence.  In  this  exemption  from 
the  usual  manifestations  of  vagabondism  and  trampism 
they  certainly  met  the  oft-repeated  charges  that  they  were 
only  a  mob  of  miserable  and  vicious  lazzaroni,  abroad  for 
no  other  purpose  than  to  prey  on  society.  When  Coxey 
led  his  men  into  Washington,  he  boasted,  "  You  cannot 
find  even  so  much  as  a  chicken  feather  among  my  men;" 
and  this  though  they  had  passed  through  a  country  teeming 
with  roosts  and  coops. 

The  question  of  army  discipline  had  evidently  been  well 
studied.  Browne  had  come  of  soldier  stock.  They  mapped 
their  marches  and  divided  their  distances  into  stated  itin- 
eraries. They  camped  with  regular  army  care.  They  had 
rigid  rules  as  to  temperance.  Camp  followers  were  either 
enlisted  or  told  to  be  gone.  Here  is  the  code  of  procedure 
as  laid  down  by  General  Randall : — 

"  All  members  must  submit  to  its  discipline,  be  orderly, 
peaceful  and  law-abiding. 

"  Every  member  must  obey  promptly  the  directions  and 
orders  of  those  who  have  been  elected  or  appointed  to 
places  of  authority  over  them. 

"  A  guard  will  be  detailed  every  day  for  the  succeeding 
twenty-four  hours  of  a  sufficient  number  of  men,  to  be 
divided  into  three  reliefs,  which  shall  be  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  officer  of  the  day. 

"  Every  day  a  sufficient  number  of  men  will  be  detailed 


THE  COXEY  CRUSADE.  401 

to  act  as  police,  to  see  that  the  camp,  barracks,  or  other 
place  of  shelter  is  kept  clean,  and  to  direct  the  men  who  are 
thoughtless  or  careless  about  their  persons  to  keep  as  clean 
as  possible. 

"  Every  man  must  keep  his  person  and  his  immediate 
portion  of  the  quarters  clean,  and  refrain  from  boisterous- 
ness,  profane  and  obscene  talk,  and  conduct  himself  in  such 
an  orderly,  sober,  dignified  way,  whether  in  or  out  of  quar- 
ters, as  will  inspire  the  public  everywhere  that  we  are 
American  citizens,  and  that  we  are  banded  together  to 
make  the  whole  people  as  a  jury  listen  to  our  grievances. 

"  No  person  will  be  allowed  to  camp  except  members  of 
the  Commonweal  army  and  those  who  have  permit  to 
countersign. 

"  No  speech-making  will  be  allowed  in  camp  without  the 
consent  of  the  commanding  officer. 

"  As  all  men  in  the  army  have  joined  for  '  pot-luck,'  and 
expect  to  take  it,  let  there  be  no  grumbling  over  rations  or 
the  quarters  furnished  to  us,  no  matter  what  the  quality  of 
the  one  nor  the  inconveniences  of  the  other.  We  are 
patriots,  and  must  endure  our  lot  whatever  it  may  be." 

But  fortunately  there  is  better  data  as  to  the  nature  of 
Coxeyite  aggregation  than  that  afforded  by  sensational 
newspaper  reporters,  or  by  a  study  of  their  rules  and  regu- 
lations. Professor  Hourwitch,  already  quoted,  made  an 
examination,  from  the  standpoint  of  sociology,  of  290  men 
selected  at  random  from  the  command  of  General  Randall. 
Here  is  a  compendium  of  his  data : — 

"  Of  the  290  Industrials,  one-half  were  American  born. 
Two-thirds  were  English-speaking  men.  They  averaged 
30  to  32  years  of  age. 

"Of  262  Industrials,  181  were  skilled  mechanics,  repre- 
senting 70  trades ;  74  were  unskilled,  and  7  were  tradesmen. 


402  THE  COXEY  CRUSADE. 

The  fourth  were  union  men.  Of  the  skilled  mechanics,  70 
were  unionists,  and  in  non-unionists.  Their  average 
wages  when  at  work  was,  unionists,  $2.50  per  day,  non- 
unionist  mechanics,  $1.75,  and  unskilled  laborers  $1.50. 

"  Of  the  115  questioned  as  to  education,  only  two  were 
badly  educated.  They  averaged  seven  years  of  school  life. 
Twenty-six  had  attended  high  schools,  business  and  pro- 
fessional colleges,  academies  and  universities. 

"  Of  198  questioned  as  to  politics,  88  were  Democrats,  39 
Republicans,  10  Populists;  25  did  not  vote;  28  were  not 
naturalized. 

"  One-half  the  non-Chicagoan  Industrials  were  married 
and  had  left  their  families  in  search  of  work.  One-fourth 
of  261  had  been  helped  through  the  winter  by  charity. 
The  average  duration  of  lack  of  employment  was  five 
months.  Two-thirds  of  them  had  saved  enough  to  tide 
them  over  this  period,  but  their  savings  were  spent.  Only 
five  or  six  appeared  to  be  of  questionable  character." 

The  professor's  conclusion  was  that  it  was  not  the  tramp, 
but  the  unemployed — the  unfortunate  citizen — who  had 
turned  into  the  ranks  of  the  Commonweal.  And  this  may 
be  one  of  the  reasons  that  while  they  were  ridiculed,  and 
looked  upon  with  contempt  and  dread  in  advance,  their 
arrival  in  a  place  was  never  without  a  modicum  of  sym- 
pathy, wholly  inconsistent  with  pre-existing  thought  that 
they  were  deliberate  idlers  and  incorrigible  tramps. 

THE  GRAND  MARCH  FROM  MASSILLON. 
Sketches  of  the  grand  march  of  Coxey's  Army  from 
Massillon  to  Washington  were  innumerable,  and  no  doubt 
very  highly  colored,  if  not  absolutely  distorted.  But  out 
of  the  confusion,  something  like  the  following  may  be 
deemed  approximately  correct.  It  was  Sunday  morning, 


JACOB  SECHLER  COXEY, 

Commander  of  the  Commonweal  Army. 

Was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  in  1854.  He  left  school  at  thirteen  and 
went  to  work  in  a  rolling  mill.  lie  was  dilligent  and  prosperous,  and 
went  into  business  on  his  own  account  in  1879.  Two  years  later  he 
purchased  a  sand-stone  quarry  at  Massillon,  Ohio,  and  in  1889  added 
stock  raising  to  his  ventures,  acquiring  thereby  considerable  means. 
He  was  an  Episcopalian  of  musical  tastes,  till  he  imbibed  the  theosophy 
of  Browne. 

(387) 


CARL  BROWNE, 

Marshal  of  Coxey's  Army. 

Born  July  4,  1849,  of  fighting  stock,  his  father  having  fought  in 
Mexican  and  Civil  Wars.  The  son  passed  through  many  occupations 
and  phases  of  life,  having  been  printer,  painter,  rancher,  journalist, 
cartoonist,  politician  and  labor  agitator.  He  was  Dennis  Kearney's  pri- 
vate secretary,  and  passed  through  the  anti-Chinese  agitations  in  Cali- 
fornia. Coming  East  he  joined  fortunes  with  Coxey. 

(394) 


THE  COXEY  CRUSADE.  407 

and  the  Easter  bells  of  1894  were  ringing  when  Coxey  and 
Browne  began  their  famous  march  from  Massillon  to  Wash- 
ington with  about  a  hundred  Industrial  soldiers  in  line 
behind  the  banner  of  the  Army  of  the  Commonweal,  but 
this  small  force  was  escorted  by  no  fewer  than  forty-three 
special  correspondents,  four  Western  Union  telegraphic 
operators,  and  two  linemen. 

The  van-man  was  a  negro  bearing  the  American  flag. 
Browne  followed  in  a  decorated  buck-skin  coat  and  riding 
on  a  big  gray  horse.  On  his  head  was  a  broad-brimmed 
sombrero,  and  around  his  neck  an  amber  necklace,  a  present 
from  his  wife.  He  was  followed  by  a  trumpeter,  and  a 
decimated  brass  band.  Then  came  Coxey  in  a  buggy 
drawn  by  two  bays,  and  driven  by  a  negro.  Behind  were 
his  wife  and  sister  in  an  open  carriage.  Then  another 
negro  followed  bearing  the  banner  of  the  "  Commonweal  of 
Christ,"  with  its  portrait  of  the  Savior  and  the  suggestive 
legend,  "  Death  to  Interest-bearing  bonds."  Then  followed 
the  hundred  Industrials. 

Grimy  they  were  and  ragged,  but  they  stepped  out 
bravely  behind  their  banner,  caring  little  for  the  jeers  of 
the  populace,  which  outnumbered  the  army  by  twenty  to 
one.  The  forty-three  newspaper  men  tramped  alongside, 
while  the  rear  was  brought  up  by  a  miscellaneous  multitude 
who  tailed  off  as  the  snow  came  down  and  the  mud  grew 
deep  in  the  road. 

The  impedimenta  of  the  army  consisted  of  a  wagon 
laden  with  one  of  Browne's  panoramas,  with  a  cover 
curiously  painted  in  blue,  with  a  couple  of  commissariat 
wagons,  on  which  was  inscribed  the  watchword  of  the 
Commonweal. 

A  circus  tent  was  carried  with  them,  and  such  rations  as 
they  could  secure.  As  a  rule  the  army  was  supplied  with 


4o8  THE  COXEY  CRUSADE. 

victuals  by  the  people  on  the  way.  The  reporters  com- 
plained of  having  ham  and  eggs  three  times  a  day,  but 
they  paid  for  their  fare.  The  Commonwealers  being 
dependent  on  charity  often  went  hungry.  They  cut  their 
own  firewood  in  the  woods,  made  fires  in  camp,  received 
their  rations  in  groups  of  five,  took  off  their  shoes,  laid 
down  in  their  blankets,  and  rested.  All  along  the  road  the 
country-folk  came  to  see  the  show.  It  was  as  good  as  a 
circus  in  its  way — and,  besides,  who  could  say  but  that  it 
might  lead  to  better  times  ?  So  the  crowds  cheered,  and 
brought  crackers  and  pies  and  bacon,  and  the  Common- 
wealers felt  encouraged  to  persevere.  Sometimes  they 
enlivened  the  camp  by  singing  some  of  the  songs  of  the 
Army  of  the  Commonweal. 

On  Sundays  the  movement  flamed  out  in  its  religious 
colorings.  Browne  was  a  mystic  and  theosophist.  Coxey 
had  been  an  Episcopalian  with  musical  tastes,  but  had 
become  a  theosophist,  and  it  was  said  that  he  fully  believed 
he  and  Browne  were  sharers  in  the  re-incarnation  of  Christ. 
On  Sundays  Browne  preached.  His  sermons  were  a 
strange  mixture  of  prophecy  and  politics,  of  theology  and 
finance.  Over  the  head  of  the  preacher  floated  a  banner 
bearing  the  inscription,  "  The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  (on 
Earth)  is  at  Hand."  In  one  of  the  sermons,  he  declared 
the  present  condition  of  the  country  to  be  the  fulfilment  of 
the  revelation  to  St.  John.  The  horns  of  the  beast  were 
the  seven  conspiracies  against  the  money  of  the  people;  the 
ten  horns  were  the  ten  monopolies,  foremost  among  them 
the  Sugar  Trust.  Grover  Cleveland  had  called  an  extra 
session  of  Congress,  and  by  the  aid  of  "  that  gray-headed 
rat  from  Ohio,  John  Sherman,"  had  been  able  to  heal  the 
wounds  of  the  seventh  head  by  repealing  the  Silver  Pur-, 
chasing  bill, 


THE  COXEY  CRUSADE.  409 

Browne  was  great  in  Scripture,  and  his  Biblical  allusions 
were  quite  Puritanic.  Here,  for  instance,  is  an  extract  from 
one  of  his  general  orders  : 

We  are  fast  undermining  the  structure  of  monopoly  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people.  Like  Cyrus  of  old,  we  are  fast  tunnelling  under  the  boodlers' 
Euphrates,  and  will  soon  be  able  to  march  under  the  walls  of  the  second 
Babylon  and  its  mysteries  too.  The  infernal  blood-sucking  bank  system 
will  be  overthrown,  for  the  handwriting  is  on  the  wall. 

In  his  eyes  Coxeyism  was  the  outward  and  visible  sign 
of  the  second  coming  of  Christ.  He  wrote  at  the  beginning 
of  the  march  an  exposition  of  his  views  on  this  subject,  in 
which  we  have  the  familiar  tone  of  the  Fifth  Monarchy 
man  with  a  modern  accent. 

Coxey  wrote  and  spoke  with  less  theological  fervor. 
But,  like  Browne,  he  was  zealous  against  all  interest- 
bearing  bonds;  the  watchword  of  the  Coxeyite  agita- 
tion being  "  Death  to  the  interest-bearing  bond  !  " 

The  hundred  wanderers  who  started  from  Massillon  had 
swollen  to  600  as  the  army  marched  through  Homestead — 
Mr.  Carnegie's  Homestead — but  when  the  perilous  march 
across  the  snowy  mountain  had  to  be  faced  only  140  were 
found  in  line  on  the  summit.  The  ranks  were  again  re- 
cruited when  the  army  approached  Washington,  but  they 
never  mustered  500  after  Homestead. 

The  chief  incident  in  the  march  to  Washington  was 
the  crossing  of  the  Blue  Mountains  in  a  snow  storm.  The 
passage  was  a  good  piece  of  stiff  climbing,  which  was  too 
much  for  all  but  150.  Of  those  who  got  through  Browne 
said  in  a  general  order,  "  Your  names  will  be  emblazoned 
on  the  scroll  of  fame.  As  Henry  V.  said  to  his  men  after 
the  battle  of  Agincourt,  'Your  names  will  be  as  familiar  as 
household  words.' "  A  card  of  merit  was  issued  to  all  who 
made  the  march  in  the  following  terms  ; — • 


410  THE  COXEY  CRUSADE. 

The  Commonweal  of  Christ :  This  certifies  that  John  Souther,  of  group 
3,  commune  1,  Chicago  community  of  the  Commonweal  of  Christ,  is  en- 
titled to  this  souvenir  for  heroic  conduct  in  crossing  the  Cumberland  Moun- 
tains in  the  face  of  snow  and  ice,  and  despite  police  persecution  and  dis- 
sension breeders.  . 

Their  reception  varied.  Nowhere  was  it  more  enthu- 
siastic than  at  Alleghany  City,  where  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  populace  was  in  inverse  proportion  to  the  hostility  of 
the  police.  The  army  was  presented  with  a  new  banner 
bearing  the  following  inscription  in  gilt  letters  on  white 
silk  :— 

Pittsburgh  and  Alleghany.  Laws  for  Americans.  More  money,  less 
misery,  good  roads.  No  interest-bearing  bonds. 

After  reaching  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  canal  the  cru- 
saders transferred  themselves  to  two  scows,  which  conveyed 
them  for  ninety  miles  in  two  days  at  so  much  freight  per 
ton,  each  soldier  being  averaged  at  150  pounds  net  weight. 
After  they  disembarked  they  resumed  their  march  to  the 
capital,  and  were  on  time  on  the  proposed  first  of  May. 
The  purple  banner  of  the  Nazarene  floated  overhead, 
followed  by  the  white  standard  of  the  Pittsburgh  and  Alle- 
ghany men,  but  not  for  all  their  banners  or  for  all  their 
eloquence  were  they  allowed  to  approach  the  steps  of  the 
capitol.  The  police  broke  up  the  procession  at  the  foot  of 
Capitol  Hill,  and  the  leaders  made  an  effort  to  cross  the 
public  grounds  and  carry  out  their  design  of  addressing  the 
crowd  from  the  capitol  steps.  This  was  trespass  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  ordinances  protecting  shrubbery  and  the  sign 
"  Keep  off  the  Grass."  Coxey  was  arrested  and  sent  to 
prison  for  twenty  days.  The  leaderless  army  found  a  tem- 
porary camp  within  the  city  limits.  The  authorities  ousted 
them  as  a  nuisance,  and  they  retreated  beyond  the  District 
to  near  Bladensburg,  where  they  remained  for  some  time, 


THE  COXEY  CRUSADE.  4TI 

a  source  of  curiosity  and  dread,  and  undergoing  the 
process  of  gradual  disintegration.  The  first  act  of  the 
Coxey  demonstration  thus  came  to  an  end  without  achiev- 
ing its  main  object  or  any  immediate  result  outside  of  the 
domain  of  the  sensational.  At  his  trial,  Coxey  had  many 
voluntary  defenders,  among  them  members  of  Congress,  of 
the  Populist  faith,  but  the  law  proved  inexorable  and  he  had 
to  serve  his  term  behind  the  bars  like  a  common  culprit. 

The  march  to  Washington  from  Massillon  was  child's 
play  compared  with  the  enterprise  undertaken  by  the 
Common wealers  who  started  for  Washington  from  the 
Pacific  Slope.  The  distance,  some  3,000  miles,  was  a 
longer  walk  than  the  Crusaders  of  the  Middle  Ages  who 
started  for  the  Holy  Land,  and  the  armies  no  sooner  began 
to  march  than  they  discovered  it  was  indispensable  they 
should  go  by  rail.  As  they  had  no  money  to  pay  for  their 
freight,  this  necessity  led  them  to  seize  railway  trains. 
Sometimes  they  succeeded  in  inducing  the  railway  com- 
panies to  carry  them.  More  frequently  they  seized  goods 
trains  and  compelled  the  conductor  to  bring  them  along. 
But  for  this  expedient  they  never  could  have  crossed  the 
great  desert.  There  were  two  organized  and  partially 
armed  bodies :  General  Frye's,  who  started  from  Los  An- 
geles, and  General  Kelly's,  which  came  from  Sacramento. 
Of  these  Kelly's  was  much  the  larger  and  more  formidable. 
It  was  twice  threatened  with  Gatling  guns.  At  Sacramento 
and  at  Utah  it  travelled  alternately  on  foot,  by  rail,  and 
then  flat-bottomed  boats,  which  it  built  on  the  Des  Moines 
River.  It  was  sometimes  menaced  by  the  authorities,  and 
then  feted  by  the  people.  The  Pacific  armies  said  little 
about  good  roads.  Their  cry  was  State  aid  for  the  irrigation 
of  the  desert.  They  do  not  seem  to  have  been  acting  in 
concert  with  Coxey,  and  General  Kelly  expressed  himself 


412  THE  COXEY  CRUSADE. 

freely  in  criticism  of  Coxey's  tactics.  The  most  notable 
feature  about  their  movements  was  the  sympathy  which 
they  commanded  along  the  line  of  their  march.  Not  even 
the  seizing  of  trains  to  the  general  dislocation  of  railway 
transit  could  alienate  the  support  of  the  masses. 

These  bodies  wrestled  heroically  with  a  much  harder 
situation  than  that  which  confronted  Coxey,  not  only  as  to 
the  distance  to  be  overcome,  but  because  both  the  curiosity 
and  the  enthusiasm  had  dropped  out  of  the  movement  by 
Coxey's  failure.  They  struggled  over  tedious  routes  and 
were  much  affected  by  internal  dissensions.  At  times  they 
were  divided  into  inconsequential  divisions,  with  dim  visions 
of  their  destination  and  object.  At  other  times  some  of 
these  divisions  were  entirely  lost  to  view,  and  a  few  never 
came  to  light.  It  cannot  be  said  that  any  of  them  ever 
reached  Washington  in  originally  organized  shape.  Those 
that  arrived  came  in  straggling  bands,  and  not  in  sufficient 
numbers  to  attract  wide-spread  attention,  excite  alarm,  or 
perfect  the  scheme  of  a  grand,  popular  and  united  demon- 
stration on  July  4,  1894. 

While  this  movement  was  on  Major  General  Howard 
deemed  it  worthy  of  a  critical  contribution  to  the  North 
American  Review t  in  which  he  says :  "  Th<;  attempt  to 
affect  the  United  States  legislation  by  organizing  the  unem- 
ployed into  peaceful  hosts  and  marching  them,  without 
previous  furnishing  of  supplies,  by  the  precarious  means  of 
begging  their  way  for  hundreds  of  miles,  to  the  capital, 
appears  to  ordinary  minds  the  height  of  absurdity.  Yet 
notwithstanding  an  almost  unanimous  press  against  their 
contemplated  expedition,  notwithstanding  the  discourage- 
ment by  members  of  Congress  with  hardly  a  dissenting 
voice,  and  all  legal  checks  put  upon  them  by  State  and  United 
States  executive  power,  Coxey's  first  contingent  is  already 


THE  COXEY  CRUSADE,  413 

in  Washington,  and  Kelly's  and  Frye's  and  other  divisions 
are  on  the  road." 

As  to  the  motives  of  the  men,  General  Howard  inclined 
to  the  belief  that  the  desire  for  notoriety  did  much  to  swell 
the  rank  and  file.  "  Yet,"  he  says,  "  the  ideas  which  Coxey 
Has  proclaimed  are  not  inconsistent  with  sincerity  on  his 
part,  because  the  notion  that  those  who  occupy  the  seats  of 
power  can  issue  fiat  money  is  the  doctrine  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  our  citizens." 

Of  the  composition  of  the  army  he  says :  "  Some  of  them 
are  Socialists,  and  some  have  Anarchistic  tendencies. 
Doubtless  there  are  worthy  men  among  them  who  have 
been  thrown  out  of  employment  and  who  under  the  pinch- 
ings  of  poverty  have  not  known  which  way  to  turn  for  relief. 
There  are  also  numbers  of  very  young  men  who  have 
escaped  from  home  control  and  enjoy  any  sort  of  exciting 
adventure,  even  though  it  may  involve  privation  and  hard- 
ship. The  enrolled  armies  number  from  fifty  to  a  few 
hundred  each.  Their  leaders  appear  to  have  been  elected, 
and  they  are  denominated  generals,  and  in  fact '  the  Com- 
monweal '  and  Industrials  have  assimilated  military  nomen- 
clature throughout.  Every  official  has  come  to  his  position 
by  the  votes  of  those  who  serve  under  him. 

"  The  purpose  of  the  movement  as  expressed  by  Coxey 's 
demands  are :  First,  The  repeal  by  Congress  of  all  interest- 
bearing  bonds  and  the  issuance  of  $500,000,000  in  irre- 
deemable paper  money ;  Congress  to  vest  in  municipalities 
the  power  to  issue  to  the  United  States  government  non- 
interest  bearing  bonds,  these  bonds  to  be  repaid  at  the  rate 
of  4  per  cent,  per  annum  ;  Second,  The  revenue  so  author- 
ized and  raised  is  to  be  expended  in  the  improvement  and 
construction  of  public  roads."  Frye's  demand  is  somewhat 
different — namely,  government  employment  for  all  her  un- 


4i4  THE  COXEY  CRUSADE. 

employed  citizens,  the  prohibition  of  foreign  immigration 
for  ten  years,  and  the  exclusion  of  aliens  from  ownership 
of  real  estate  in  the  United  States." 

General  Howard  then  made  some  comparisons  between 
this  movement  and  an  historical  event  of  similar  character : 
"  On  the  eve  of  the  French  revolution  there  was  a  similar 
movement.  It  was  of  '  five  hundred  and  seventeen  men, 
with  captains  of  fifteen  and  tens,  well  armed  all ;  with 
musket  on  shoulder;  sabre  on  thigh;  nay,  they  drive  three 
pieces  of  cannon ;  for  who  knows  what  obstacles  may 
occur?'  This  army  was  organized  in  Marseilles  and  then 
marched  to  Paris.  On  their  arrival  we  have  this  very 
remarkable  speech  from  these  Marseillais :  '  We  have  come 
numbering  five  hundred  to  free  ourselves  from  the  oath 
which  Marseilles  has  taken  to  fight  for  liberty ;  but  liberty 
is  not  the  cause  of  the  king.  When  we  go  to  shed  our 
blood  it  is  of  importance  to  us  to  know  whether  we  shed 
that  blood  for  Louis  XVI.  or  for  our  country.  We  ask  you 
legislators  to  provide  for  our  subsistence.'  The  coming  of 
these  men  to  Paris  made  the  revolution  an  actuality.  They 
struck  the  blow  against  the  Swiss  Guard,  and  became  the 
nucleus  round  which  all  active  revolutionists  gathered." 

While  pointing  out  that  the  march  to  Washington  was 
similar  in  character  to  that  of  over  one  hundred  years  ago 
on  Paris,  Major-General  Howard  did  not  think  that  the 
present  movement  would  prove  revolutionary  in  its  effects. 
In  his  opinion  it  hardly  more  than  emphasized  the  fact  that 
representatives  can  never  be  self-constituted,  and  that  they 
must  be  restricted  by  the  will  of  those  they  represent.  He 
felt  sure  that  Congress  would  soon  make  such  provision  of 
law  as  would  bring  back  the  usual  confidence  among  the 
people. 

Another  opinion  entitled  to  great  weight,  as  coming  from 


THE  COXEY  CRUSADE.  415 

thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  discontented  and  criminal 
classes,  is  that  of  Thomas  Byrnes,  Superintendent  of  the 
New  York  Police  Department.  He  said,  in  a  deliberate 
review  of  the  movement,  in  which  he  regarded  it  as  the 
most  dangerous  this  country  has  seen  since  the  Civil  War : 
"  It  is  claimed  the  sympathy  of  the  law-abiding  and  self- 
supporting  population  of  the  States,  for  the  movement,  has 
been  shown  by  the  gifts  of  food  and  help  afforded.  I  have 
read  the  published  accounts  carefully,  and  I  have  noticed  in 
every  case  that  help,  in  whatever  form,  has  been  given  to 
get  the  men  to  move  away.  The  farmers  are  not  to  be 
blamed.  They  know  from  bitter  experience  what  it  means 
to  have  tramps  in  the  neighborhood,  they  are  powerless  to 
defend  themselves,  and  naturally  they  do  anything  to  get 
rid  of  such  unwelcome  visitors.  I  would  do  the  same  were 
I  in  their  place.  There  is  a  standing  order  on  the  Central 
Pacific  Railroad  forbidding  conductors  of  freight  trains  to 
put  off  tramps.  Why  ?  Simply  because  there  are  hundreds 
of  miles  of  wooden  snowsheds  on  the  roads,  and  when  the 
tramps  are  put  off  they  set  these  on  fire.  It  is  cheaper  to 
carry  them  on  the  trains.  It  was  cheaper  for  the  farmers 
to  feed  the  Coxeyites  and  haul  them  along  the  road  than  to 
have  them  stay.  No  doubt  if  the  farmers  could  feed  and 
transport  the  seventeen-year  locusts  and  the  army-worms, 
they  would  with  pleasure.  So  they  have  fed  and  trans- 
ported these  army-worms." 

Anent  this,  an  able  writer,  who  did  not  choose  to  rely  on 
newspaper  reports,  visited  Bladensburg  to  inspect  for 
himself.  He  writes  thus : — "  In  General  Galvin's  camp 
there  were  about  200  men,  most  of  whom  had  come 
through  from  the  Pacific  Coast.  Mr.  Galvin  explained 
that  some  hundreds  who  began  the  journey  had  dropped 
off  at  various  points  because  they  had  found  work.  They 


416  THE  COXEY  CRUSADE. 

were  very  largely  carpenters  and  members  of  the  building 
trades.  Those  who  remained  and  were  in  camp  were  nearly 
all  quite  young.  They  were  very  stalwart,  pleasant,  well- 
spoken  fellows,  for  whose  presence  in  Washington  no  real 
reason  could  be  given  except  that  which  we  gave  last 
month — namely,  that  being  temporarily  out  of  work,  and 
being  restless  and  high-spirited,  they  had  taken  quite  con- 
genially to  the  idea  of  such  an  adventure  as  this  trip  to  the 
nation's  capital.  They  had  not  tramped,  but  had  made 
their  way  on  railroad  trains,  their  fares  being  in  part  paid 
by  the  communities  through  which  they  passed.  They 
were,  quite  largely,  young  fellows  who  had  gone  to  the 
Pacific  Coast  from  points  further  East,  and  had  not  acquired 
a  very  fixed  domicile.  They  were  ready  enough  to  say — 
as  they  had  been  taught  to  say — that  Congress  ought  to 
give  work  by  proceeding  to  irrigate  and  improve  the  arid 
lands  of  the  great  West,  and  ought  to  shut  down  upon  the 
importation  of  further  foreign  labor.  But  they  were 
evidently  ready  for  a  good  excuse  to  give  up  the  mission 
and  strike  out  for  their  own  individual  fortunes.  In  the 
Coxey  camp  nearby,  there  were  about  400  men,  of  whom, 
perhaps,  one  in  ten  claimed  to  be  a  '  married  man.'  A 
little  further  inquiry  generally  revealed  the  fact  that  these 
so-called  '  married  men '  were  widowers  without  children, 
rather  than  men  who  had  left  hungry  families  behind  them 
and  had  gone  forth  in  sadness  and  despair  to  seek  relief  for 
those  who  were  dear  to  them.  From  some  slight  knowledge 
of  communistic  experiments  and  Utopian  colonies,  the 
writer  was  strongly  reminded  by  the  Coxey  camp  of 
certain  romantic  characteristics  that  pertained  to  some  of 
the  attempts  many  years  ago  in  the  West  to  establish 
phalansteries  on  the  Fourier  plan,  and  that  have  marked 
other  detached  projects  in  the  line  of  communism.  The 


THE  COXEY  CRUSADE.  41? 

Coxeyites  had  pitched  their  tents  around  three-and-a-half 
sides  of  a  nearly  square  field,  the  middle  of  which  had  been 
converted  into  an  excellent  baseball  ground.     Good  ball 
players  were  numerous  among  them,  and  spirited  match 
games  seemed  to  be  a  part  of  each  afternoon's  diversion. 
In  the  stream    hard  by  were  plenty  of  fish ;    and  Chief- 
Marshal  Carl  Browne  had  procured  seines  with  which  it 
was  proposed  to  obtain  an  abundant  supply  of  that  kind  of 
food.     The  various  squads  of  Commonwealers  were  vying 
with  each  other  in  the  decoration  of  their  tents  and  booths. 
They  were  laying  out  ornamental  flower  beds,  and  making 
much  ingenious  preparation  of  a  festive  nature  in  view  of 
the  approach  of  the  4th  of  July.     They  were  all  comfortable, 
and,  so  far  as  one  could  learn,  were  nearly  all  of  them 
members  of  skilled  trades.     Most  of  them  appeared  to  be 
from  twenty  to  twenty-five   years  old.     Inasmuch  as  the 
times  were  dull  at  home  and  they  were  out  of  work  when 
they  started  for  Washington,  and  inasmuch,  furthermore, 
as  they  were  not  obliged  to   give  support  to  dependent 
women  or  children,  they  felt  at  liberty  to  prolong  somewhat 
indefinitely  their   quixotic   sojourn  at  Washington.     They 
were  intelligent  enough  to  enjoy  the  great  notoriety  they 
had  attained.     There  was   not  a  sick  man  in  the   entire 
camp,  and  not  a  particle  of  evidence  of  grief  or  distress  or 
crushed  spirits.     The  leaders  were  probably  perplexed ;  but 
as  for  the   men  in  the  ranks,  they  were  well  aware  that 
when   the    times   improved,   or   the   Coxey   business   was 
played  out,  they  could  find  work  at  their  trades.     A  good 
many  of  these   men  were  from   the   industrial   towns  of 
Rhode   Island   and   Connecticut,   while    Philadelphia   was 
also  well  represented. 

"  The  great  object  of  the  leaders  was  to  save  something 
of  the  prestige  of  the  movement  by  organizing  a  4th  of 


4i8  THE  COXEY  CRUSADE. 

July  demonstration  which  should  give  evidence  of  a  most 
excellent  patriotic  feeling.  Every  effort  was  being  made  to 
get  the  much-delayed  Kelly  forces  to  Washington  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  parade  on  the  Nation's  birthday.  It  was  also 
proposed  by  Marshal  Carl  Browne  to  bring  into  the  line  of 
march  a  good  many  thousands  of  the  colored  people  of  the 
District  of  Columbia.  It  was  evident  enough  that  so  far  as 
anything  serious  was  concerned,  the  movement  had  fallen 
completely  flat.  Among  the  plain  people  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  especially  the  working  people,  one  discovered 
that  great  sympathy  was  felt  for  Coxey  and  the  '  Industrials.' 
It  was  well  nigh  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  people  that 
the  reception  of  the  Coxey  army  by  the  Washington  police 
had  been  stupid  and  brutal  in  the  extreme,  and  highly 
uncalled  for  by  the  facts  of  the  situation.  It  was  also  held 
that  the  incarceration  of  Messrs.  Coxey,  Browne  and  Jones 
for  twenty  days,  for  the  sole  offence  of  having  trodden  upon 
the  grass  ia  the  Capitol  grounds,  was  an  unmerited  and 
extreme  punishment.  There  was  no  sign  of  any  policy  on 
the  part  of  Mr.  Coxey  except  to  endeavor  to  collect  food 
enough  to  maintain  the  camp  for  some  time  to  come,  and 
thus  to  wait  for  something  to  turn  up  that  would  lessen  the 
appearance  of  complete  fiasco." 

As  Coxey's  army  approached  Washington  the  Populist 
members  of  Congress  took  great  interest  in  it,  and  assumed 
an  attitude  which,  if  it  did  not  make  them  sponsors  for  the 
movement,  was  intended  to  encourage  it.  They  held  that 
these  people  were  peaceful  citizens  coming  to  the  Capital  on 
a  lawful  errand,  and  that  as  petitioners  they  were  entitled  to 
a  hearing  upon  the  grievances  they  had  come  so  far  to  de- 
clare. Senator  Peffer  presented  a  resolution  to  the  effect 
that  a  Select  Committee  of  the  Senate  should  be  appointed 
to  receive  and  to  listen  to  Mr.  Coxey  and  his  followers,  and 


THE  COXEY  CRUSADE.  419 

he  made  sharp  protest  against  the  police  preparations  that 
were  deemed  necessary  in  the  District  of  Columbia  on 
account  of  the  so-called  invasion  of  the  Industrials.  Sena- 
tor Allen,  of  Nebraska,  made  an  able  but  inflammatory 
speech  in  support  of  th*e  resolution,  which  brought  upon 
him  the  severest  criticism  and  censure.  But  in  an  after 
mood,  and  when  subjected  to  a  close  -interview,  he  repudi- 
ated the  idea  that  he  countenanced  the  movement.  He 
said : — "  I  disapprove  utterly  of  the  marching  of  these 
industrial  armies  toward  Washington,  and  see  nothing  to 
commend  in  Mr.  Coxey's  financial  proposals.  This  move- 
ment is  in  no  way  connected  with  Populism,  and  the  Popu- 
list party  is  not  responsible  for  it.  It  might  naturally  be 
true  that  these  men  should  look  to  the  Populist  party  as  the 
advocate  of  remedies  for  the  conditions  out  of  which  their 
grievances  arise,  but  that  is  all.  I  look  upon  Coxeyism  as 
I  do  upon  the  foam  that  accumulates  upon  waters  that  are 
lashed  by  storm.  It  is  simply  the  lighter  part — the  floating 
evidence  that  there  is  commotion  in  the  water  beneath,  and 
that  something  under  the  surface,  rocks  perhaps,  disturbs  the 
calm.  It  has  no  other  significance  to  me.  It  is  like  an 
unsightly  eruption  on  the  body  politic,  that  is  symptomatic 
of  something  wrong  in  the  system.  The  boil  on  my  hand  is 
not  the  evil,  but  merely  the  evidence  that  there  is  impurity 
in  the  blood  that  flows  hidden  in  the  veins.  So  it  is  with 
the  Coxey  movement.  Here  are  a  lot  of  fellows  that  are 
out  of  employment.  They  know  that  they  want  work. 
They  talk  more  than  they  reason.  One  fellow  says  it  is  this 
that  will  give  relief,  and  another  says  it  is  that.  There  is  no 
particular  significance  in  their  demands.  Their  idea  in 
marching  on  to  Washington  is  to  demand  that  the  govern- 
ment do  something  to  afford  relief.  But  all  this  is  only  the 
logical  consequence  of  those  conditions  of  which  I  have 


420  THE  COXEY  CRUSADE. 

been  speaking.  I  have  never  been  out  to  see  the  Coxey 
army,  and  have  no  sympathy  with  the  movement  or  with  its 
specific  purposes.  I  had  never  heard  of  it  until  I  read  the 
newspaper  accounts.  I  think  it  wholly  visionary ;  but 
whether  visionary  or  not,  I  would  fflake  the  same  arguments 
for  the  right  of  Mr.  Vanderbilt  in  a  peaceable  manner  to 
present  his  grievances,  if  he  had  any,  that  I  would  make, 
and  have  already  made  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  for 
Coxey.  In  this  country  men  are  upon  an  equality  of  rights, 
and  they  must  be  treated  alike.  This  is  as  far  as  I  have 
ever  gone  in  behalf  of  the  Coxey  people." 


THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT. 

ONE  of  the  most  remarkable  and  determined  issues  ever 
presented  by  organized  labor  in  the  United  States  was  that 
precipitated  in  June,  1894,  by  the  American  Railway  Union, 
under  the  leadership  of  President  Debs.  This  was  a  com- 
paratively new  national  organization  whose  centre  of  activity 
was  in  the  West,  where  by  far  its  greatest  strength  lay.  It 
had  had  a  rapid  growth,  and  believed  itself  strong  enough 
to  cope  successfully,  through  the  medium  of  a  strike,  with 
the  railroads  of  the  country. 

President  Debs  was  credited  with  great  organizing  and 
managing  ability.  He  was  fairly  popular  as  a  high  labor 
official.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  was  familiar  with 
the  history  of  railroad  strikes  in  the  country,  and  knew  the 
effects  of  strikes  in  general,  not  only  as  they  bore  upon  all 
parties  directly  interested,  but  indirectly  upon  non-interested 
persons  and  communities,  as  well  as  upon  property  and 
values. 

The  conspicuous  and  remarkable  feature  about  this  strike 
was  the  absence  of  a  direct  cause.  It  was  not  a  strike  of 
railway  employees  against  the  companies  for  higher  wages, 
nor  against  a  reduction  of  wages.  No  grievance  was 
alleged  against  the  companies.  It  was  what,  in  one 
sense,  might  be  called  a  sympathetic  strike,  but  may  be 
better  described  as  a  "  boycott." 

The  town  of  Pullman,  111.,  is  the  site  of  the  large  car 
works  of  the  Pullman  Company,  whose  president  was  Mr. 
Pullman.  Here  were  built  those  spacious  cars,  of  special 
pattern,  used  for  sleeping,  dining  and  vestibule  travel. 
These  cars  were  leased  or  hired  to  the  railroads  on  terms 

(421) 


422  THE   PULLMAN   BOYCOTT. 

specified  in  the  contracts,  and  were  in  very  general  use. 
The  populous  town  of  Pullman  had  grown  up  around  the 
large  car  works,  themselves  very  extensive,  and  employing 
at  times  over  5000  workmen.  The  Car  Company  had  been 
a  prosperous  concern,  and  had  a  capital  stock  in  1893  esti- 
mated at  $36,000,000.  In  July,  1893,  it  employed  5816 
persons.  By  reason  of  reduced  orders,  owing,  to  the  times, 
the  number  of  employees  was  gradually  cut  down,  till  in  the 
month  of  November,  of  that  year,  it  stood  at  about  2000. 

On  the  principle  that  it  would  prove  cheaper  to  keep  the 
works  running  even  at  loss,  than  to  let  them  rust  in  idle- 
ness, the  Company  went  into  the  market  and  secured  con- 
tracts to  build  cars  at  reduced  figures.  The  number  of 
hands  was  nowaugmented,but  with  a  decided  cut  in  the  wages 
of  those  who  worked  piece-work.  On  May  11,  1894,  they 
struck  and  practically  closed  the  works.  The  number  at 
work  on  that  date  was  about  4300.  To  the  grievance  of 
lowered  wages,  the  strikers  added  the  charge  that  the  rent 
of  the  houses  owned  by  the  Company  had  not  been  corres- 
pondingly lowered.  The  strike  was  a  stubborn,  though 
peaceful  one,  its  chief  features  being  a  flood  of  criminations 
and  recriminations,  and  the  continued  refusal  of  the  Com- 
pany to  treat  with  the  labor  organizations  as  such,  or  to 
submit  its  business  affairs  to  a  control  outside  of  itself. 

Thus  far  the  issue  was  between  the  Pullman  Company 
and  its  employees.  But  now  the  battle  was  taken  up  by  the 
American  Railway  Union,  on  the  principle,  as  mentioned 
in  its  circular  ordering,  or  excusing,  its  action,  that  "  The 
struggle  with  the  Pullman  Company  has  developed 
into  a  contest  between  the  producing  classes  and  the  money 
power  of  the  country.  This  is  what  Lincoln  predicted  at 
the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  and  it  was  this  reflection  that 
gave  the  great  emancipator  his  gloomiest  forebodings. 


GEO.  31.  PULLMAN, 

President  Pullman  Palace  Cur  Company. 
(410) 


THE   PULLMAN  BOYCOTT.  425 

We  stand  upon  the  ground  that  workingmen  are  entitled 
to  a  just  proportion  of  the  proceeds  of  their  labor.  This 
the  Pullman  Company  denied  them.  Reductions  had  been 
made  from  time  to  time  until  the  employees  earned  barely 
sufficient  wages  to  live,  not  enough  to  prevent  them  from 
sinking  deeper  and  deeper  into  Pullman's  debt,  thereby 
mortgaging  their  bodies  and  souls,  as  well  as  their  children 
to  that  heartless  corporation." 

The  plan  of  battle  on  the  part  of  President  Debs  was  to 
use  the  power  of  his  organization  to  bring  the  Pullman 
Company  to  terms  with  its  employees,  and  in  order  to  do  so 
most  effectively  the  railroads  were  first  asked  to  cancel 
their  contracts  with  the  Pullman  Company  and  to  refuse  to 
haul  or  use  Pullman  cars  on  their  roads.  In  other, 
and  plain  words,  the  railroads  were  invited  to  join  the 
American  Railway  Union  in  a  "  boycott  "  of  the  Pullman 
manufactures.  It  is  to  be  presumed  that  this  request  was 
made  with  a  full  knowledge  of  the  legal  consequences  that 
would  follow  a  violation  of  their  contracts  by  the  railways, 
and  also  with  the  knowledge  that  such  a  surrender  to  the 
Railway  Union  as  the  request  implied  would  be  to  place 
the  control  of  railway  business  virtually  in  its  keeping. 

Concern itantly  with  the  above  request,  and  in  its  support, 
the  American  Railway  Union  resolved  that  its  members 
would  refuse  to  handle  Pullman  cars  and  their  equipments. 
This  laid  the  foundation  for  what  was  soon  to  occur.  Now 
the  railways  became  alarmed  and  called  a  Session  of  their 
Association,  called  the  "  General  Manager's  Association." 
After  full  discussion  of  the  serious  situation,  this  Associa- 
tion decided  that  it  could  not  concede  the  request  of  the 
American  Railway  Union  to  stop  the  running  of  Pullman 
cars ;  that  to  do  so  would  subject  the  railways  to  endless 
lawsuits  on  their  contracts  ;  that  it  would  be  such  a  con- 


20 


426  THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT. 

cession  as  would  place  the  control  of  the  property  and 
business  for  which  they  were  responsible  in  strange  hands ; 
that  the  railways  were  not  a  party  to  the  Pullman  strike 
and  knew  nothing  of  its  merits ;  that  the  demand  was 
imperious  and  arbitrary  and  calculated  to  result  in  harm  to 
labor  and  capital. 

The  American  Railway  Union  chose  to  look  on  this 
action  of  the  General  Managers  Association  as  a  challenge 
to  combat,  and  one  of  its  circulars  contained  the  following : 

"  The  American  Railway  Union  resolved  that  its  mem- 
bers would  refuse  to  handle  Pullman  cars  and  equipment 
Then  the  railway  corporations,  through  the  General  Man- 
agers' Association,  came  to  the  rescue  and  in  a  series  of 
whereases  declared  to  the  world  that  they  would  go  into 
partnership  with  Pullman,  so  to  speak,  and  stand  by  him  in 
his  devilish  work  of  starving  his  employees  to  death.  The 
American  Railway  Union  accepted  the  gage  of  war,  and 
thus  the  contest  is  now  on  between  the  railway  corporations 
united  solidly  upon  the  one  hand,  and  the  labor  forces  upon 
the  other.  Every  railroad  employee  of  the  country  should 
take  his  stand  against  the  corporations  in  this  fight,  for  if  it 
should  be  lost  corporations  will  have  despotic  sway  and  all 
employees  will  be  reduced  to  a  condition  scarcely  removed 
above  chattel  slavery ;  but  the  fight  will  not  be  lost." 

With  supreme  confidence  in  the  ability  of  the  Union  to 
fight  a  gigantic  battle  and  win  a  decided  victory,  its  Board 
of  Directors  decided  to  tie  up  the  railway  system  of  the 
country.  On  June  26th  the  movement  began.  On  the 
27th  trains  were  abandoned  in  California.  On  the  28th  the 
switchmen  went  out  in  Chicago.  On  the  evening  of  June 
29,  1894,  the  following  order  was  issued: 

"  Call  out  everybody,  and  tie  up  all  roads  possible." 

What  had  been  a  swift  drift  toward  a  culmination,  within 


THE   PULLMAN  BOYCOTT.  427 

the  circles  of  the  Railway  Union,  struck  the  outside  world 
like  an  alarm,  and  completely  paralyzed  the  railways.  It 
was  a  repetition  on  a  grander  scale  of  the  attempt  made  in 
1892  by  the  Knights  of  Labor  to  paralyze  the  New  York 
Central  system,  and  which  came  with  such  suddenness  as 
to  effect  its  object  for  a  brief  while.  But,  in  that  instance, 
the  resources  of  the  managers,  backed  as  they  were  by 
public  opinion,  which  did  not  approve  of  this  strike,  were 
sufficient  very  soon  to  cope  with  the  power  of  the  Knights, 
and  in  a  month  that  organization  had  sustained  the  worst 
defeat  it  has  experienced  excepting  perhaps  that  one  which 
it  met  with  in  its  struggle  with  the  Missouri  Pacific  system. 
It  was  the  suddenness  of  the  instant  action  of  secret  orders 
that  caused  a  catastrophe  as  paralyzing  for  the  moment  as 
some  tremendous  convulsion  of  nature  would  have  been. 
The  surprise  being  overcome  the  means  for  also  overcoming 
this  power  were  speedily  at  hand.  Would  it  prove  so  in 
this  more  general  strike  ?  As  word  of  this  greatest  of 
modern  railway  strikes  flashed  over  the  country,  there  went 
with  it  the  ominous  announcements  that  railway  after  rail- 
way was  being  tied  up  by  refusal  of  its  engineers,  firemen, 
switchmen,  trainmen,  yardmen  and  employees  of  every  kind 
to  handle  forbidden  cars.  The  torrent  of  refusal  ran  along 
with  such  impetuous  speed  that  almost  in  a  twinkling  a 
dozen  systems  of  railway,  stretching  from  the  Alleghanies 
to  the  Pacific,  and  representing  55,000  miles  of  track,  were 
involved  and  crippled. 

For  the  first  day  or  two  the  manifestations  of  the  strike 
were  not  of  an  unusual  kind.  President  Debs  had  been 
particular  to  enjoin  peace  upon  all  strikers,  but  with  his 
experience  he  must  have  known  how  impossible  peace  was 
in  the  midst  of  such  passions  as  a  strike  is  apt  to  stir  up. 
Indeed,  but  a  few  years  had  passed  since  he  was  a  high 


428  THE  PULI/MAN   BOYCOTT. 

official  in  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Firemen,  and 
had  opposed  strikes  on  the  principle  that  they  were  more 
harmful  than  advantageous  to  labor,  and  the  secret  of  his 
success  in  building  up  the  American  Railway  Union  was 
largely  attributable  to  his  belief  that  such  an  organization 
could  be  founded  on  the  principle  of  hostility  to  strikes. 

Then  began  to  follow  those  harrowing  stories  of  hard- 
ship, violence  and  destruction  inseparable  from  strike  war- 
fare. The  roads  centering  in  Chicago  were  helpless,  for 
that  was  what  may  be  called  the  grand  objective  point  of 
the  strike.  Entry  and  departure  of  trains  became  an  im- 
possibility, as  was  also  their  running  on  the  long  stretches 
reaching  to  other  cities,  and  especially  on  two  of  the  through 
lines  to  the  Pacific,  the  Northern  Pacific  and  Southern 
Pacific.  Tens  of  thousands  of  travelers  were  caught  on 
their  way  and  detained,  at  various  obstructed  points,  much 
to  their  inconvenience-  and  loss.  At  all  these  points  arose 
huge  blockades  of  freight  cars,  loaded  with  live-stock,  fruits 
and  other  perishable  commodities,  to  which  delay  meant 
total  destruction.  Shipments  for  quick  delivery  were  sus- 
pended, and  those  for  through  delivery  were  compulsorily 
cancelled.  Even  where  engineers,  firemen  and  trainhands 
were  willing  to  work,  they  refused  to  start  trains  and  run 
the  gauntlet  of  the  mobs  which  grew  hourly  more  furious, 
and  resorted  to  stones  and  other  missiles  to  drive  the  willing 
workers  from  their  posts.  Riotous  demonstrations  became 
more  and  more  frequent,  as  passion  became  more  heated. 
In  the  wake  of  these  came  the  torch,  and  railway  property 
of  great  value,  mostly  cars  and  station  houses,  fell  a  victim 
to  the  flames.  Deaths  were  not  infrequent  from  the  use 
of  stones  and  deadly  weapons. 

Very  early  in  the  strike,  the  railways  began  to  call  on 
the  authorities  for  protection  to  their  property  and  to  their 


EUGENE  V.  DEBS, 

President  American  Railway  Union. 
(403) 


THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT.  431 

business.  And  just  here,  the  strike  began  to  take  on  entirely 
new  phases — phases  which  perhaps  the  leaders  who  were  re- 
sponsible for  it  had  not  fully  calculated  upon.  The  first 
phase  was  the  exceeding  firmness  of  the  railways.  They 
had  not  been  so  badly  demoralized  by  the  boldness  and 
suddenness  of  the  strike  as  to  be  beyond  speedy  recovery. 
The  general  labor  conditions  of  the  country  were  such  as 
that  they  were  confident  of  soon  being  able  to  recruit  a 
new  set  of  employees  to  take  the  place  of  the  strikers,  and 
to  resume  business,  under  the  protection  of  the  authorities. 
They  therefore  opened  recruiting  offices  in  various  unaf- 
fected parts  of  the  country,  and  soon  had  the  promise  of  an 
ample  supply  of  trained  help.  They  carefully  noted  the 
movements  of  mobs,  the  extent  of  their  losses,  the  attitude 
of  the  various  responsible  authorities,  and  all  those  matters 
which  would  enable  them  to  render  and  collect  bills  of 
damages.  Mayors  of  Cities,  Sheriffs  of  Counties,  Marshals 
of  the  United  States,  were  called  upon  to  extend  the  pro- 
tection they  were  bound  to  give  to  property  and  the  right 
to  carry  on  business  without  molestation. 

This  call  upon  United  States  Marshals  gave  a  second 
important  phase  to  the  strike.  It  had  been  nothing  unu- 
su^fr  for  overpowered  Sheriffs  and  daunted  Mayors  to  call 
on  the  militia  of  the  States  for  help  to  restore  broken  peace. 
Indeed  the  militia  of  half  a  dozen  States  had  but  just  re- 
tired from  the  scenes  of  war  incident  to  the  strikes 
of  the  bituminous-coal  miners,  and  all  the  forces  of 
Alabama  were  still  in  the  field.  But  this  call  upon  the 
Marshals  was  a  virtual  call  upon  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment to  enter  into  the  controversy  and  assert  its  majestic 
power.  The  justice  of  the  call  rested  on  three  proposi- 
tions ;  (i)  that  many  of  the  obstructed  roads  were  in  the 
hands  of  receivers,  and  therefore  subject  to  the  control  of 


43*  THE   PULLMAN   BOYCOTT. 

the  United  States  Courts ;  (2)  that  most  of  the  roads  car- 
ried on  commerce  through  several  States,  and  therefore  the 
Federal  Government  was  bound  to  see  that  their  commerce 
was  not  interfered  with  under  the  "  Interstate  Commerce 
Act ;  "  (3)  that  the  Federal  Government  was  under  the  high- 
est obligation  to  protect  the  carriage  of  its  mails.  The 
response  came  promptly  from  Washington  that  the  Mar- 
shals must  swear  in  deputies  and  organize  such  a  temporary 
force  as  would  secure  the  movement  of  all  trains  carrying 
United  States  mails. 

The  situation  now  assumed  its  extreme  tension.  The 
General  Managers'  Association  issued  a  manifesto,  conced- 
ing the  magnitude  of  the  strike,  and  the  embarrassment 
it  was  causing,  and  announcing  that  it  was  recruiting  trained 
help  in  the  East  and  was  authorized  to  pledge  it  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Chicago  authorities,  as  well  as  of  Cook 
County  and  the  entire  State  of  Illinois  ;  and  that  "  The 
companies  have  no  idea  of  entering  into  a  compromise  with 
the  strikers  on  any  basis  whatever.  The  railroad  companies 
fail  to  see  the  justice  of  the  position  taken  by  the  A.  R.  U. 
of  fighting  Mr.  Pullman  over  the  heads  of  the  railroad 
companies,  who  have  no  control  over  Mr.  Pullman's  move- 
ments or  his  manufacturing  business.  The  men  who*are 
now  on  strike  are  considered  as  employees  who  have  re- 
signed their  positions  and  who  are  not  anxious  for  work." 

This  narrowed  the  controversy  to  what  looked  like  a 
war  of  annihilation  between  the  General  Managers'  Associ- 
ation and  the  American  Railway  Union.  It  intensified  the 
bitterness  of  the  strife,  and  from  that  time  on  every  mo- 
ment seemed  to  foreshadow  bloody  clashes  between  the 
strikers  and  the  armed  authorities.  Sheriffs  and  their 
posses,  Marshals  and  their  deputies,  Mayors  and  their  po- 
lice, were  met  everywhere  by  resolute  bands  of  strikers, 


THE  PULLMAN   BOYCOTT.  433 

and  prevented  from  moving  interdicted  trains.  Defiance 
was  bold  and  determined  wherever  the  authorities  pre- 
sented themselves  in  organized  shape.  The  United  States 
Courts  came  into  requisition  with  their  restraining  orders. 
As  defiance  took  wider  and  more  determined  form,  and  law 
assumed  the  shape  of  judicial  decree,  the  strike  grew  more 
and  more  into  the  proportions  of  a  grand  conspiracy  against 
the  peace  and  the  public  welfare  of  the  land.  The  strikers 
became  subject  to  arrest  upon  warrants  as  conspirators. 

And  now  appeared  another  phase  of  this  remarkable 
strike.  It  began  to  awaken  a  public  sentiment  which  was 
adverse  to  it.  This  had  not  been  the  case  with  most  strikes. 
There  was  more  of  a  lesson  in  this  than  any  other. 
Perhaps  it  lacked  the  dignity  of  a  great  underlying  cause. 
Perhaps  its  leadership  was  not  inspirational.  Perhaps  its 
methods  were  defective,  and  its  time  inopportune.  At  any 
rate  the  country  at  large  never  before  stood  in  such  awe  of 
a  strike,  and  never  so  flatly  refused  to  extend  sympathy  or 
remain  neutral.  It  even  failed  to  commend  itself  to  the 
other  national  labor  organizations  as  politic  and  wise.  It 
seemed  appalling,  especially  in  the  midst  of  apprehension 
as  to  the  general  labor  situation,  that  one  man,  or  a  coterie 
of  men  should,  without  any  of  the  forms  or  sanctions  of 
law,  and  upon  a  pretext  of  a  private  nature,  have  power  to 
draw  the  fires  and  stop  the  wheels  of  locomotion  on  55,000 
miles  of  railway,  and  to  visit  upon  merchants,  manufacturers, 
consumers,  travelers  and  other  innocent  parties  the  penalties 
which  were  originally  intended  for  a  single  corporation. 
This  phase  of  the  strike  became  the  subject  of  wide  news- 
paper and  magazine  discussion.  It  attracted  the  attention  of 
economists  of  every  school,  of  sociologists,  of  labor  leaders, 
of  legislators,  and  finally  the  general  public,  in  a  way  that 
was  serious  and  profound. 


434  THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT. 

July  3,  1894,  was  a  momentous  day  for  the  cause  of 
the  strikers.  They  were  supreme  at  every  pivotal  point, 
and  apparently  counted  on  the  sympathy,  or  indifference  of 
the  Chicago  authorities  as  well  as  those  of  the  State  of 
Illinois.  They  confronted  the  United  States  Marshals  in 
such  numbers  and  with  such  firmness  as  to  negative  all 
their  efforts  to  start  trains  and  protect  their  running.  They 
paid  no  attention  to  the  injunctions  of  the  Federal  Court, 
except  to  laugh  at  them,  and  tear  them  up  before  the 
Marshals.  When  the  Court  found  itself  helpless  by  de- 
fiance of  its  processes,  President  Cleveland  was  informed 
of  the  situation,  and  he  resolved  to  call  on  the  military 
forces  of  the  United  States  to  protect  the  mails  and  enforce 
the  provisions  of  the  laws  as  to  interstate  commerce.  A 
regiment  of  regulars  was  at  once  ordered  to  Chicago  and 
placed  under  the  direction  of  General  Miles,  with  full 
authority  to  reinforce  himself  as  emergency  required,  and 
with  instructions  to  use  the  troops  only  as  he  ordered  and 
not  through  any  of  the  civil  officials. 

This  may  be  called  the  culminating  point  of  the  strike. 
The  order  of  the  President  produced  great  indignation 
among  the  strikers  and  drew  from  them  the  bitterest  de- 
nunciations. The  arrival  of  the  troops  in  Illinois  excited 
the  Mayor  of  Chicago  and  the  Governor  of  the  State  to 
violent  protest  against  this  invasion  of  State  rights,  and 
this  reflection  on  the  ability  of  the  local  authorities  to 
suppress  their  own  tumults  and  protect  their  own  property 
and  the  lives  of  their  citizens.  It  drew  protest  from  the 
governors  of  two  other  States,  as  an  unwarranted  inter- 
ference with  State  rights.  Senator  Kyle,  of  South  Dakota, 
introduced  a  resolution  in  the  Senate  having  for  its  object 
to  forbid  the  United  States  Courts  from  issuing  processes 
against  or  causing  the  arrest  of  persons  interfering  with 


THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT.  435 

interstate  commerce  till  their  guilt  had  been  proved,  but  it 
found  no  support  in  Congress,  outside  of  the  representatives 
of  Populism.  Perhaps  the  best  reflection  of  the  general 
sentiment  in  congress  as  to  this  resolution  came  from 
Senator  Palmer,  of  Illinois,  in  response  to  a  request  to 
support  the  Kyle  resolution : — 

A.  J.  Smith,  Esq.,  Danville,  111.  My  Dear  Sir : — I  cannot  support 
Senator  Kyle's  resolution.  The  power  of  Congress  to  regulate  commerce 
with  the  foreign  nations  and  among  the  several  States,  and  its  power  to 
establish  post  offices  and  post  roads  are  alike  comprehensive  and  equally 
obligatory  upon  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  Senator  Kyle's  reso- 
lution proposes  to  withdraw  the  commerce  between  the  States  from  the 
protection  of  Federal  laws  and  also  invites  lawlessness.  I  favor  labor 
organizations,  but  cannot  consent  that  they  shall  undertake  to  control  the 
commerce  between  the  several  States  of  the  Union,  nor  can  they  adopt  or 
enforce  measures  which  will  operate  to  embarrass  interstate  commerce,  as 
Mr.  Kyle's  resolution,  if  it  was  adopted  by  Congress.  The  strength  of  the 
labor  organizations  depends  upon  their  obedience  to  law  and  a  proper 
regard  for  the  rights  of  the  people  of  the  country,  whose  welfare  depends 
upon  free  commerce  between  the  States.  Very  respectfully, 

JOHN  M.  PALMER. 

The  decision  of  the  President,  backed  as  it  was  by  an 
almost  universal  and  a  pointedly  patriotic  sentimentf 
together  with  the  appearance  of  the  regular  troops  in  the 
States  of  Illinois  and  California,  centres  of  greatest  inter- 
ference with  business  and  points  of  greatest  danger,  at  first 
dazed  the  leaders  of  the  strike  and  demoralized  the  strikers. 
President  Debs  was  reported  as  despairingly  saying, 
"  If  we  lose  the  fight,  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive 
Engineers,  the  Firemens'  Union,  the  Brakemens'  Union, 
and  all  the  railway  employees'  Unions  might  just  as  well 
go  out  of  existence.  We  can't  fight  the  whole  United 
States  Government,  and  when  such  plutocrats  as  Olney 
appoints  a  railroad  corporation  lawyer  like  Edwin  Walker 


436  THE   PULLMAN  BOYCOTT. 

to  oppose  us,  we  cannot  expect  to  get  a  fair  deal.  If 
Arthur,  Clark  and  Walkinson  and  the  other  union  leaders 
wish  to  have  union  labor  on  the  railroads  treated  in  the 
future  as  men  should  be  treated  they  will  order  their  men 
to  quit  until  the  boycott  matter  is  settled." 

The  more  the  strike  assumed  the  form  of  hostility  to 
federal  authority,  and  the  deeper  it  was  studied  in  all  its 
bearings  on  the  public  welfare,  the  more  it  seemed  to  take 
on,  in  its  legal,  or  rather  illegal,  aspects  the  shapes  of 
anarchy  and  rebellion.  One  learned  constitutional  lawyer 
saw  constructive  treason  in  the  effort  of  the  leaders  and 
strikers  to  interfere  with  the  government  in  the  carrying  on 
of  its  functions.  Notwithstanding  the  protests  sent  to 
President  Cleveland,  he  remained  firm,  and  replied  defer- 
entially. 

In  a  day  or  two  the  strikers  seemed  to  recover  their 
courage,  and,  as  usual  at  such  a  juncture,  it  was  the  desper- 
ate courage  of  despair.  In  California  it  took  the  form  of 
destructive  violence,  and  in  Chicago  that  of  threatening 
ferment  which  boded  outbreak  of  the  most  dangerous  kind. 
General  Miles  felt  the  necessity  of  further  reinforcements. 
To  add  to  the  intensity  of  the  excitement,  word  was  passed 
that  Grand  Master  Sovereign  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  had 
come  to  the  rescue  of  the  American  Railway  Union  by 
ordering  a  strike  on  the  part  of  his  powerful  order.  This 
would  be  to  double  if  not  treble  the  army  of  strikers.  '  It 
must  be  said  with  regret  that  at  this  critical  juncture  the 
sentiments  of  President  Debs,  as  reported,  were  not  of  a 
kind  to  calm  agitation  and  win  the  respect  he  coveted  as  a 
level-headed  labor  leader.  The  assertion  that  the  "  first 
shot  fired  by  the  regular  soldiers  would  be  the  signal  for  a 
civil  war "  was  highly  inflammatory ;  and  the  additional 
assertion  that  "  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  population  would 


THE  PtftLMAN  BOYCOTT.  437 

array  themselves  against  the  Federal  authorities  "  showed 
an  unpardonable  ignorance  of  existing  public  sentiment. 

On  July  /th  the  strike  assumed  its  most  incendiary  aspects. 
Great  numbers  of  cars  were  burned  at  Morgan  Park,  near 
Chicago,  and  other  incendiary  demonstrations  were  made 
which  engendered  fear  for  the  safety  of  the  city.  Governor 
Altgeld  ordered  the  State  militia  to  be  sent  to  the  help  of 
Mayor  Hopkins,  at  the  same  time  aiming  a  second  protest 
at  President  Cleveland.  President  Debs  felt  the  gravity  of 
the  situation  and  issued  a  manifesto  to  the  strikers  counsel- 
ling restraint  from  lawlessness.  Several  conflicts  occurred 
between  bands  of  strikers  and  the  police  and  marshals,  even 
in  sight  of  the  regulars  whose  forbearance  alone  prevented 
general  bloodshed.  A  company  of  State  militia  fired  into 
a  crowd  of  rioters  with  fatal  effect.  The  reign  of  terror  was 
complete.  The  developments  of  every  hour  were  awaited 
with  trembling.  Passion  was  ready  to  burst  out  in  its  most 
lurid  and  destructive  forms. 

At  this  point  it  is  proper  to  compare  this  strike  with  one 
or  two  other  railway  strikes  to  see  how  law  triumphed  in 
the  end.  In  1892  the  employees  of  the  New  York  Central 
system  suddenly  struck  and  took  possession  of  the  company's 
property  in  Buffalo.  From  control  they  passed  to  lawless- 
ness, even  to  violence,  and  the  Governor  was  appealed  to 
by  the  Sheriff,  who  declared  that  he  was  unable  to  cope 
with  the  mob. 

Governor  Flower  obtained  an  impartial  and  exhaustive 
statement  of  the  situation  as  speedily  as  possible  and  from 
it  was  made  aware  that  the  property  of  citizens  of  the  State 
had  passed  from  their  control  by  lawless  means  and  would 
be  kept  from  their  control  by  such  means.  The  Governor 
acted  upon  the  instant.  The  wires  were  hot  with  messages 
to  the  commanding  officers  of  the  State  militia.  Troops 


438  THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT. 

were  concentrated  upon  Buffalo.  The  military  officers  were 
instructed  that  they  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  strike,  were 
to  sympathize  neither  with  one  side  nor  the  other,  were  to 
compel  men  neither  to  return  to  work  nor  to  remain  in 
employment,  but  their  duty  was  simply  to  protect  property, 
and  they  were  to  protect  it  at  any  cost  of  life  if  such  sacri- 
fice were  necessary. 

Within  a  few  hours  the  mob,  justifying  themselves  as 
striking  laborers,  were  confronted  by  the  militia  and  realized 
instantly  that  the  militia  were  not  there  either  on  a  picnic 
or  dress  parade.  It  also  realized  that  its  only  duty  as  a 
body  of  militia  was  to  protect  property  and  to  protect  the 
owners  of  the  property  in  their  control  of  it ;  in  other 
words,  to  protect  the  lives  and  persons  of  new  employees 
who  had  taken  the  places  of  those  who  went  out.  There 
were  anathemas,  there  were  curses,  there  were  complaints 
that  the  Governor  was  using  the  militia  of  the  State  as 
the  servant  of  the  corporations,  but  there  was  also  an  im- 
mediate suppression  of  violence,  perfect  protection  of  prop- 
erty and  the  control  of  their  roads  was  returned  to  the 
companies  which  owned  them.  With  the  return  of  that 
control  of  those  who  owned  the  property  the  strike  of 
course  ceased. 

On  July  1 6,  1877,  the  great  railroad  strike  of  that  year 
began  on  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Road,  by  about  40 
brakemen  and  firemen,  who  struck  against  a  reduction  of 
wages.  It  extended  to  Wheeling  and  Chicago,  necessitat- 
ing the  calling  out  of  troops  in  West  Virginia  and  Ohio. 

On  July  19,  1877,  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  employees 
took  up  the  cause  of  their  brethren,  and  instituted  a  strike 
at  Pittsburg.  As  soon  as  the  trouble  began  the  authori- 
ties of  the  city  of  Pittsburg  were  notified  and  their  aid  in- 
voked to  suppress  the  disturbance.  Their  efforts  proved 


JOHN  P.  ALTGELD, 

Governor  of  Illinois. 
(427) 


THE  PULLMAN   BOYCOTT.  441 

unsuccessful.  The  Sheriff  of  Allegheny  County,  in  ac- 
cordance with  law,  made  a  requisition  upon  the  Governor 
for  a  military  force,  which  was  promptly  furnished.  In 
endeavoring  to  restore  order  a  collision  occurred  between 
the  troops  and  the  mob  on  July  21,  in  which  several  soldiers 
and  a  number  of  rioters  were  killed  and  wounded.  The 
rioters  were  then  joined  by  large  numbers  from  various 
manufactories  and  mines  in  the  city  of  Pittsburg  and  its 
vicinity,  and  further  reinforced  by  the  idle  and  vicious 
classes  which  exist  in  all  large  communities,  and  which 
were  attracted  to  the  spot  by  the  opportunity  offered  for 
plunder  and  pillage.  On  the  night  of  July  21-22,  a  terrible 
destruction  of  property  occurred,  and  the  movement  of 
freight  trains  through  Pittsburg  was  entirely  prevented. 
This  state  of  things  continued  practically  until  July  28. 
During  the  interval  Governor  Hartranft,  having  reached 
the  city,  assumed  command  of  the  State  troops,  which  had 
been  reinforced  by  detachments  of  United  States  regulars 
and  marines  forwarded  by  the  General  Government  on  the 
Governor's  requisition.  The  Governor  at  once  inaugurated 
the  most  energetic  measures  for  the  restoration  of  peace 
and  order,  and  arrangements  were  made  through  which  the 
freight  traffic  of  the  road  was  resumed  on  the  following 
morning,  and  many  of  the  ringleaders  in  the  disturbance 
were  arrested  by  the  civil  authorities.  By  that  time  the 
citizens  of  Pittsburg,  appreciating  the  responsibility  resting 
upon  them,  had  measures  taken  to  strengthen  the  hands  of 
the  civil  authorities,  to  enforce  the  law  and  restore  order, 
and  thus  enable  the  public  to  resume  their  business  without 
further  molestation.  The  railroad  estimated  its  loss  in  this 
strike  at  $5,000,000.  It  sued  the  city  and  secured  a  judg- 
ment for  $3,000,000. 

On  July  8,  1894,  the  Chicago  situation  was  regarded  as 


442  THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT. 

so  serious  by  the  Government  that  President  Cleveland  is- 
sued a  proclamation  to  the  following  effect  and  applying  to 
Chicago  and  the  State  of  Illinois  : 

"  Now,  therefore,  I,  Grover  Cleveland,  President  of  the 
United  States,  do  hereby  admonish  all  good  citizens  and  all 
persons  who  may  be  or  may  come  within  the  city  and 
State  aforesaid,  against  aiding,  countenancing,  encouraging, 
or  taking  any  part  in  such  unlawful  obstructions,  combina- 
tions and  assemblages ;  and  I  hereby  warn  all  persons  en- 
gaged in  or  in  any  way  connected  with  such  unlawful  ob- 
structions, combinations  and  assemblages  to  disperse, and 
retire  peaceably  to  their  respective  abodes  on  or  before  12 
o'clock  noon,  on  the  ninth  day  of  July  instant. 

"  Those  who  disregard  this  warning  and  persist  in  taking 
part 'with  a  riotious  mob  in  forcibly  resisting  and  obstruct- 
ing the  execution  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  or  inter- 
fering with  the  functions  of  the  Government,  or  destroying 
or  attempting  to  destroy  the  property  belonging  to  the 
United  States  or  under  its  protection,  cannot  be  regarded 
otherwise  than  as  public  enemies. 

"Troops  employed  against  such  riotious  mob  will  act  with 
all  the  moderation  and  forbearance  consistent  with  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  desired  end,  but  the  necessities  that 
confront  them  will  not,  with  certainty,  permit  discrimination 
between  guilty  participants  and  those  who  are  mingled  with 
them  from  curiosity  and  without  criminal  intent.  The  only 
safe  course  therefore  for  those  not  actually  unlawfully  par- 
ticipating is  to  abide  at  their  homes,  or  at  least  not  to  be 
found  in  the  neighborhood  of  riotous  assemblages. 

"  While  there  will  be  no  hesitation  or  vacillation  in  the  de- 
cisive treatment  of  the  guilty,  this  warning  is  especially 
intended  to  protect  and  save  the  inncent." 

This  was  tantamount  to  a  declaration  of  martial  law,  and 


THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT.  443 

greatly  strengthened  the  hands  of  General  Miles.  The  gen- 
eral sentiment  back  of  the  proclamation  was  unmistakable, 
and  no  feature  of  it  was  so  assuring  as  that  which  consti- 
tuted the  patriotic  outcrop  of  labor  in  organized  and  un- 
organized forms,  and  in  sections  of  the  country  beyond  the 
immediate  influence  of  the  strike. 

On  July  9,  President  Cleveland  extended  his  proclama- 
tion to  North  Dakota,  Montana,  Idaho,  Washington, 
Wyoming,  Colorado,  and  California.  The  Pullman  Com- 
pany which  had  been  importuned  to  arbitrate  the  difficulty 
with  its  employees,  gave  out  that  it  had  nothing  to  arbitrate. 
This  refusal  foreshadowed  a  general  strike  of  all  the  trades 
in  Chicago,  and  the  speedy  operation  of  Master  Sovereign's 
threat  to  call  out  the  Knights  of  Labor.  Though  the  situa- 
tion was  not  so  incendiary  as  it  had  been,  it  was  really  fuller 
of  complications.  All  was  cloud  and  uncertainty,  and  the 
commercial  hardships  of  the  strike  were  being  felt  through- 
out the  entire  country.  Trains  were  moving  in  and  out  of 
Chicago,  but  under  strong  military  escort ;  in  fact,  the  mili- 
tary had  full  sway,  which  was  the  best  guarantee  of  peace 
the  situation  afforded. 

On  July  11,  the  labor  leaders  made  their  calls  for  a  uni- 
versal strike.  All  the  workmen,  of  whatever  order,  were 
expected  to  respond  in  Chicago,  and  to  add  100,000  men  to 
those  already  out.  Master  Workman  Sovereign  made  his 
call  on  the  Knights  of  Labor  to  join  the  army  of  strikers. 
President  Debs  was  arrested  upon  a  charge  of  inciting  to 
insurrection  and  conspiracy  and  violating  the  injunction 
issued  by  the  Federal  Courts  restraining  interference  with 
the  United  States  mails  and  with  interstate  commerce,  and 
he  was  indicted  before  a  special  Federal  Grand  Jury  called 
to  inquire  into  the  strikes.  At  this  point  labor  leaders  and 
strikers,  employers  and  employees,  lawyers  and  judges, 


444  THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT. 

citizens  of  every  class,  were  given  to  understand,  as  they 
never  had  opportunity  to  understand  before,  the  relationship 
of  the  labor  cause  to  other  causes  and  of  the  labor  organiza- 
tions to  other  organizations.  This  came  about  in  the  very 
able  and  lucid  charge  of  Judge  Crosscup  to  the  Federal 
Grand  Jury  at  Chicago  on  July  loth,  in  which  he  said: — 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Grand  Jury : — You  have  been  sum- 
moned here  to  inquire  whether  any  of  the  laws  of  the 
United  States  within  this  Judicial  District  have  been 
violated.  You  have  come  into  an  atmosphere  and  amid 
occurrences  that  may  well  call  reasonable  men  to  question 
whether  the  Government  and  laws  of  the  United  States  are 
yet  supreme.  Thanks  to  resolute  manhood  and  to  that 
enlightened  intelligence  which  perceives  the  necessity  of  a 
vindication  of  law  before  any  other  adjustments  are  possible, 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  still  supreme. 

"  You  doubtless  feel,  as  I  do,  that  the  opportunities  of  life, 
under  present  conditions,  are  not  entirely  equal,  and  that 
changes  are  needed  to  forestall  some  of  the  dangerous 
tendencies  of  current  industrial  life.  But  neither  the  torch 
of  the  incendiary  nor  the  weapon  of  the  insurrectionist  nor 
the  inflamed  tongue  of  him  who  incites  to  fire  and  sword  is 
the  instrument  to  bring  about  reforms.  To  the  mind  of  the 
American  people,  to  the  calm,  dispassionate,  sympathetic 
judgment  of  a  race  that  is  not  afraid  to  face  deep  changes 
and  responsibilities  there  has  as  yet  been  no  appeal.  Men 
who  appear  as  the  champions  of  great  changes  must  first 
submit  them  to  discussion — discussion  that  reaches,  not 
simply  the  parties  interested,  but  the  wider  circle  of  society 
and  must  be  patient  as  well  as  persevering  until  the  public 
intelligence  has  been  reached  and  a  public  judgment  made 
up.  An  appeal  to  force  before  that  hour  is  a  crime,  not  only 
against  the  Government  of  existing  laws  but  against  the 


THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT.  445 

cause  itself;  for  what  man  of  any  intelligence  supposes  that 
any  settlement  will  abide  which  is  induced  under  the  light 
of  the  torch  or  the  shadow  of  an  overpowering  threat. 

"  The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  enacted  laws, 
first  to  protect  itself  and  its  authority  as  a  Government; 
and  secondly,  to  protect  its  authority  over  those  agencies  to 
which  under  the  Constitution  and  laws  it  extends  Govern- 
mental regulations. 

"  For  the  former  purpose — namely,  to  protect  itself  and 
its  authority  as  a  Government — it  has  enacted  that  '  every 
person  who  entices,  sets  on  foot,  assists  or  engages  in  any 
rebellion  or  insurrection  against  the  authority  of  the  United 
States  or  the  laws  thereof,  or  gives  aid  or  comfort  thereto ; ' 
and,  '  any  two  or  more  persons  in  any  State  or  Territory 
who  conspire  to  overthrow,  put  down  or  destroy  by  force 
the  Government  of  the  United  States ; '  '  or  to  levy  war  or 
by  force  to  prevent,  hinder  or  delay  the  execution  of  any 
law  of  the  United  States,  or  by  force  to  seize,  take  or  pos- 
sess any  property  of  the  United  States  contrary  to  the 
authority  thereof/  shall  be  visited  with  certain  penalties 
therein  named. 

" '  Insurrection  is  a  rising  against  civil  or  political  au- 
thority; the  open  and  active  opposition  of  a  number  of 
persons  to  the  execution  of  law  in  a  city  or  State.'  Now 
the  laws  of  the  United  States  forbid,  under  penalty,  any 
person  from  obstructing  or  retarding  the  passage  of  the 
mail  and  make  it  the  duty  of  the  officer  to  arrest  such 
offenders  and  bring  them  before  the  court. 

"  If,  therefore,  it  shall  appear  to  you  that  any  person  or 
persons  have  wilfully  obstructed  or  retarded  the  mails,  and 
that  their  attempted  arrest  for  such  offence  has  been  opposed 
by  such  a  number  of  persons  as  would  constitute  a  general 
uprising  in  that  particular  locality,  and  as  threatens,  for  the 

21 


446  THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT. 

time  being,  the  civil  and  political  authority,  then  the  fact  of 
an  insurrection  within  the  meaning  of  the  law  has  been 
established.  And  '  he  who  by  writing,  speech,  promises  or 
other  inducements  assists  in  setting  it  on  foot  or  carrying 
it  along,  or  gives  it  aid  or  comfort,  is  guilty  of  a  violation 
of  the  law.'  It  is  not  necessary  that  there  should  be  blood- 
shed ;  it  is  not  necessary  that  its  dimensions  should  be  so  por- 
tentous as  to  insure  probable  success  to  constitute  an  insurrec- 
tion. It  is  necessary,  however,  that  the  rising  should  be  in 
opposition  to  the  execution  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States 
and  should  be  so  formidable  as  for  the  time  being  to  defy 
the  authority  of  the  United  States.  When  men  gather  to 
resist  the  civil  or  political  power  of  the  United  States  or  to 
oppose  the  execution  of  its  laws,  and  are  in  such  force  that 
the  civil  authorities  are  inadequate  to  put  them  down,  and 
a  considerable  military  force  is  needed  to  accomplish  that 
result,  they  become  insurgents,  and  every  person  who 
knowingly  incites,  aids  or  abets  them,  no  matter  what  his 
motives  may  be,  is  likewise  an  insurgent. 

"  This  penalty  is  severe  and,  as  I  have  said,  is  designed 
to  protect  the  Government  and  its  authority  against  direct 
attack. 

"The  Constitution  places  the  regulation  of  commerce 
between  the  several  States,  and  between  the  States  and 
foreign  nations,  within  the  keeping  of  the  United  States 
Government.  Anything  which  is  designed  to  be  trans- 
ported for  commercial  purposes  from  one  State  to  another, 
and  is  actually  in  transit,  and  any  passenger  who  is  actually 
engaged  in  any  such  interstate  commercial  transaction,  and 
any  car  or  carriage  actually  transporting  or  engaged  in 
transporting  such  passenger  or  things,  are  the  agencies  and 
subject-matter  of  interstate  commerce,  and  any  conspiracy 


THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT.  447 

in  restraint  of  such  trade  or  commerce  is  an  offence  against 
the  United  States. 

"  But  to  complete  this  offence,  as  also  that  of  conspiracy 
to  obstruct  the  mails,  there  must  exist  in  addition  to  the 
resolve  or  purpose  the  element  of  criminal  conspiracy. 

"  What  is  cnminal  conspiracy  ?  If  it  shall  appear  to  you 
that  any  two  or  more  persons  corruptly  or  wrongfully 
agreed  with  each  other  that  the  trains  carrying  the  mails 
and  interstate  commerce  should  be  forcibly  arrested,  ob- 
structed and  restrained,  such  would  clearly  constitute  a 
conspiracy. 

"  If  it  shall  appear  to  you  that  two  or  more  persons  cor- 
ruptly or  wrongfully  agreed  with  each  other  that  the 
employees  of  the  several  railroads  carrying  the  mails  and 
interstate  commerce  should  quit,  and  that  successors  should 
by  threats,  intimidation  or  violence  be  prevented  from 
taking  their  places,  such  would  constitute  a  conspiracy. 

"  I  recognize,  however,  the  right  of  labor  to  organize. 
Each  man  in  America  is  a  free  man,  and  so  long  as  he  does 
not  interfere  with  the  rights  of  others  he  has  the  right  to  do 
with  that  which  is  his  what  he  pleases.  In  the  highest 
sense  a  man's  arm  is  his  own,  and  aside  from  contract  rela- 
tions no  one  but  himself  can  direct  when  it  shall  be  raised 
to  work  or  shall  be  dropped  to  rest.  The  individual  option 
to  work  or  to  quit  is  the  imperishable  right  of  a  free  man. 
But  the  raising  or  dropping  of  the  arm  is  the  result  of  a 
will  that  resides  in  the  brain,  and  much  as  we  may  desire 
that  such  wills  should  remain  entirely  independent,  there  is 
no  mandate  of  law  which  prevents  their  association  with 
others  and  response  to  a  higher  will.  The  individual  may 
feel  himself  alone  unequal  to  cope  with  the  conditions  that 
confront  him,  or  unable  to  comprehend  the  myriad  of  con- 
siderations that  ought  to  control  his  conduct.  He  is  entitled 


448  THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT. 

to  the  highest  wage  that  the  strategy  of  work  or  cessation 
from  work  may  bring,  and  the  limitations  upon  his  intelli- 
gence and  opportunities  may  be  such  that  he  does  not 
choose  to  stand  upon  his  own  perception  of  strategic  or 
other  conditions.  His  right  to  choose  a  leader,  one  who 
observes,  thinks  and  wills  for  him — a  brain  skilled  to 
observe  his  interest — is  no  greater  pretension  than  that 
which  is  recognized  in  every  other  department  of  industry. 
So  far  and  within  reasonable  limits  associations  of  this  char- 
acter are  not  only  not  unlawful,  but  are  in  my  judgment  bene- 
ficial when  they  do  not  restrain  individual  liberty  and  are 
under  enlightened  and  conscientious  leadership. 

"  But  they  are  subject  to  the  same  laws  as  other  associa- 
tions. The  leaders  to  whom  are  given  the  vast  power  of 
judging  and  acting  for  the  members  are  simply  in  that 
respect  their  trustees;  their  conduct  must  be  judged  like 
that  of  other  trustees  by  the  extent  of  their  lawful  authority 
and  the  good  faith  with  which  they  have  executed  it.  No 
man  in  his  individual  right  can  lawfully  demand  and  insist 
upon  conduct  by  others  which  will  lead  to  an  injury  to  a 
third  person's  lawful  rights.  The  railroads  carrying  the 
mails  and  interstate  commerce  have  a  right  to  the  service 
of  each  of  its  employees  until  each  lawfully  chooses  to  quit, 
and  any  concerted  action  upon  the  part  of  others  to  demand 
or  insist  under  any  effective  penalty  or  threat  upon  their 
quitting  to  the  injury  of  the  mail  service  or  the  prompt 
transportation  of  interstate  commerce  is  a  conspiracy,  unless 
such  demand  or  insistence  is  in  pursuance  of  a  lawful 
authority  conferred  upon  them  by  the  men  themselves,  and 
is  made  in  good  faith  in  the  execution  of  such  authority. 
The  demand  and  insistence,  under  effective  penalty  or 
threat,  and  injury  to  the  transportation  of  the  mails  or  inter- 
State  commerce  being  proven,  the  burden  falls  upon  those 


THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT.  449 

making  the  demand  or  insistence  to  show  lawful  authority 
and  good  faith  in  its  execution. 

"  I  wish  again,  in  conclusion,  to  impress  upon  you  the 
fact  that  the  present  emergency  is  to  vindicate  law.  If  no 
one  has  violated  the  law  under  the  rules  I  have  laid  down 
it  needs  no  vindication;  but  if  there  has  been  such  violation, 
there  should  be  quick,  prompt  and  adequate  indictment. 

"  I  confess  that  the  problems  which  are  made  the  occa- 
sion or  pretext  for  the  present  disturbances  have  not  re- 
ceived the  consideration  they  deserve.  It  is  our  duty  as 
citizens  to  take  them  up,  and  by  candid  and  courageous  dis- 
cussion ascertain  what  wrongs  exist  and  what  remedies  can 
be  applied.  But  neither  the  existence  of  such  problems 
nor  the  neglect  of  the  public  hitherto  to  adequately  consider 
them  justifies  the  violation  of  law  or  the  bringing  on  of 
general  lawlessness.  Let  us  first  restore  peace  and  punish 
the  offenders  of  the  law  and  then  the  atmosphere  will  be 
clear  to  think  over  the  claims  of  those  who  have  real  griev- 
ances. First  vindicate  the  law.  Until  this  is  done  no  other 
questions  are  in  order." 

Thus  the  judicial  and  moral  forces  of  the  Government 
were  made  to  supplement  its  armed  forces.  The  strikers 
were  being  surrounded  by  situations  they  had  never  ex- 
pected to  face.  They  saw  trains  moving  in  spite  of  their 
efforts,  and  under  military  guards  too  large  to  be  coped 
with  and  too  earnest  to  be  trifled  with.  The  court  injunc- 
tions which  they  had  laughed  at  now  began  to  have  an 
ominous  meaning,  and  the  words  of  the  Judges  which 
coupled  them  with  conspiracies  and  insurrections  had  an 
appalling  sound.  The  local  labor  unions  whose  co-opera- 
tion had  been  so  heartily  promised  failed  to  influence  their 
men  to  the  extent  expected.  Master  Workman  Sovereign's 
call  on  the  Knights  of  Labor  for  a  general  strike  seemed  to 


450  THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT. 

have  fallen  on  dull  ears.  That  stupendous  sympathetic 
movement  of  labor  which  had  been  so  confidently  counted 
on,  those  1,000,000  of  men  who  were  to  quit  work  and 
rally  around  the  standard  of  the  American  Railway  Union, 
failed  utterly  to  materialize.  Despondency  began  to  usurp 
the  place  of  hope  in  the  bosom  of  the  strikers.  Word  be- 
gan to  come  from  many  affected  sources  that  large  bodies 
had  given  up  in  disgust  and  returned  to  work.  The  rail- 
ways were  in  daily  receipt  of  detachments  of  help  from 
other  sections  of  the  country.  Only  in  California  was  there 
manifest  that  determination  to  fight  to  the  death  that  had 
started  and  upheld  the  strike  till  now. 

By  July  1 2th  the  confession  of  weakness  became  almost 
general  among  the  strikers.  Surrenders  grew  more  and 
more  frequent.  Their  blockades  were  broken  or  aban- 
doned. Trains  began  to  run  on  schedule  time,  and  with 
less  and  less  armed  protection.  The  cases  of  violent  inter- 
ference became  more  sporadic.  The  incendiary  spirit  sub- 
sided rapidly.  The  leaders,  however,  remained  confident, 
and  stimulated  their  forces  with  hopeful  manifestoes.  This 
was  hardly  true,  however,  of  Master  Workman  Sovereign, 
for  he  issued  something  which  was  construed  as  a  recall  of 
his  order  for  a  general  strike,  and  which  was  regarded  as 
an  effort  to  gloss  a  failure  on  his  part. 

Labor  leaders  of  the  national  organizations  met  in  Chi- 
cago to  consult  respecting  the  situation  and  over  the  pro- 
priety of  a  universal  strike.  Perhaps  the  strongest  mind 
present  was  that  of  President  Gompers,  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor.  He  counseled  moderation  and  hoped 
for  such  a  solution  of  existing  difficulties  as  would  restore 
business  activity,  yet  secure  the  rights  of  labor.  It  was 
apparent  that  the  strike  could  hope  for  no  encouragement 


THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT.  451 

from  such  a  source ;  indeed  the  Federation  prepared  and 
issued  an  address  in  which  it  said : 

"  We  are  forced  to  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  best 
interests  of  the  unions  affiliated  with  the  American  Feder- 
ation of  Labor  demand  that  they  refrain  from  participating 
in  any  general  or  local  strike  which  may  be  proposed  in 
connection  with  the  present  railroad  troubles.  In  making 
this  declaration,  we  do  not  wish  it  understood  that  we  are  in 
any  way  antagonistic  to  labor  organizations  now  struggling 
for  right  or  justice,  but  rather  to  the  fact  that  the  present 
centre  has  become  surrounded  and  beset  with  complica- 
tions so  grave  in  their  nature  that  we  cannot  consistently 
advise  a  course  which  would  be  to  add  to  the  general  con- 
fusion." 

President  Debs  still  refused  to  recognize  the  defeat  of  the 
strike,  but  insisted  that  it  was  still  on  and  that  it  would  suc- 
ceed in  the  end.  The  rapid  revelations  of  each  and  every 
hour  were,  however,  against  him.  More  and  more  the  cars 
moved ;  more  and  more  the  strikers  gave  over  the  unequal 
contest  and  sought  their  old  places,  angered  equally  at  their 
failure  and  folly,  trusting  rather  to  their  own  judgment  of 
the  future  than  to  the  judgment  of  their  leader. 

By  July  1 5th  the  General  Managers'  Association  of 
Railways  gave  it  out  that  they  regarded  the  efforts  of  the 
American  Railway  Union  as  fully  and  finally  defeated,  and 
the  organization  as  practically  dead.  General  Miles 
awaited  orders  for  the  removal  of  the  regular  troops  from 
Chicago.  President  Debs,  however,  refused  as  firmly  as 
ever  to  admit  defeat.  He  claimed  that  organized  labor  all 
over  the  country  was  sure  to  come  to  his  aid,  but  in  the 
midst  of  his  hopeful  views  confessed  that  more  weakness 
had  been  shown  in  Chicago,  the  heart  and  centre  of  the 
strike,  than  anywhere  else.  It  was  evident  that  his  hopes 


452  THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT. 

of  success  depended  more  on  the  situation  west  than  east 
of  the  Mississippi.  It  was  evident,  too,  that  his  confidence 
was  not  shared  by  the  majority  of  his  association,  and  that 
there  had  been  a  rapid  diminution  of  respect  for  a  judgment 
which  but  a  few  weeks  before  had  been  almost  imperial.  If 
the  strike  was  still  on,  it  was  more  a  form  than  fact,  for  it 
had  lost  cohesive  force,  and  become  chaotic  and  utterly 
despairing. 

On  July  i /th  the  strike  took  an  entirely  new  phase  by 
the  arrest  of  President  Debs  and  other  officers  of  the  Amer- 
ican Railway  Union  at  the  instance  of  the  United  States 
Circuit  Court,  for  violation  of  its  injunction  forbidding 
interference  with  the  mails  and  interstate  commerce.  They 
were  held  to  bail,  but  refused  to  give  it,  and  were  impris- 
oned. By  the  ipth  both  the  regular  troops  at  Chicago,  and 
the  State  militia  at  various  points,  except  Chicago  and 
Pullman,  were  under  orders  to  retire  from  the  scene  of  ac- 
tion, the  authorities  being  satisfied  that  the  situation  war- 
ranted their  withdrawal.  On  that  day,  too,  the  Federal 
Grand  Jury  met  in  Chicago  and  returned  numerous  indict- 
ments against  President  Debs  and  his  associates  for  crimi- 
nal conduct  in  conspiring  to  interfere  with  the  rights  of 
citizens  to  ship  goods  from  one  State  to  another,  and  for 
inciting  to  riot  and  destroying  property. 

On  July  22d  President  Debs  published  a  letter 
addressed  "to  the  American  public,"  in  which  he  said : — 

"  We  propose  that  the  Pullman  Company  shall  be 
brought  to  justice  and  this  in  a  way  that  will  not  necessi- 
tate a  strike  with  its  attendant  ills. 

"  We  have  faith  in  the  American  people ;  they  uphold 
justice;  they  love  fair  play.  And  now,  in  the  name  of 
justice  and  fair  play,  we  appeal  to  the  great  American 
public,  to  every  good  man  and  every  good  woman,  not  to 


THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT.  453 

ride  in  a  Pullman  car  until  the  Pullman  Company  does 
justice  to  its  employees.  Let  the  cars  run  absolutely 
empty.  No  friend  of  humanity  will  occupy  a  seat  or  berth 
in  a  Pullman  car.  Let  this  policy  be  inaugurated  and  we 
will  then  see  how  long  the  railway  companies  will  be 
bound  by  their  contracts,  as  they  have  induced  the  public 
to  believe,  to  haul  Pullman  cars. 

"  We  propose  to  continue  this  fight  against  the  Pullman 
Company  through  good  and  evil  report  and  without  regard 
to  consequences  until  justice  shall  be  done.  There  will  be 
no  surrender.  We  will  use  every  available  and  lawful 
means  to  press  the  contest. 

"  It  is  requested  that  all  papers  throughout  the  land 
favorable  to  labor,  to  justice,  to  humanity,  copy  this  state- 
ment in  full  and  keep  it  standing  as  long  as  possible." 

On  the  same  date  the  indicted  strikers  joined  issue  with 
the  Government  in  what  bade  fair  to  become  one  of  the  most 
important  legal  battles  of  the  day,  and  one  whose  deter- 
mination would,  in  point  of  time,  extend  far  beyond  the 
direct  influences  of  the  strike.  Their  presentation  of  a 
defence  was  the  best  outline  of  the  objects  and  purposes  of 
the  organization,  and  of  its  intent  in  resorting  to  a  strike, 
that  had  thus  far  appeared.  It  presented  the  case  of  the 
strikers  with  a  deliberation  impossible  by  the  leaders 
during  the  excitement  of  the  strike,  and  may  be  said  to 
have  contained  all  that  could  be  offered  in  the  nature  of 
a  legal  defence.  The  gist  of  the  defence  was  an  admission 
that  the  American  Railway  Union  existed  and  was  officered 
as  alleged  by  the  Court,  but  a  denial  that  said  officers  had 
the  power  to  order  a  strike,  or  had  ever  ordered  one,  or 
had  ever  counseled  violence  in  connection  with  one.  They 
alleged  that  the  strike  was  the  result  of  a  majority  vote  by 
the  members  of  the  Union,  and  did  not  come  about 


454  THE  PULLMAN  BOYCOTT. 

through  its  officers,  and  that  the  telegrams  ordering  strikes 
had  never  been  sanctioned  or  sent  by  its  officers,  excepting 
the  one  of  July  6,  1894,  which  read : — 

"  We  have  assurance  that  within  forty-eight  hours  every 
labor  organization  in  this  country  will  come  to  our  rescue. 
Every  true  man  must  quit  now  and  remain  out  until  the 
fight  is  won.  There  can  be  no  half-way  ground.  Our 
cause  is  gaining  ground  daily  and  our  success  is  only  a 
question  of  a  few  days.  Labor  must  win  now  or  never. 
Our  victory  will  be  positive  and  complete." 

After  the  preliminary  steps  in  the  cases  were  taken,  there 
was  a  general  agreement  to  postpone  further  action  for  a 
time  sufficiently  remote  to  allow  the  passions  engendered 
by  the  strike  to  subside.  Meanwhile  President  Cleveland 
appointed  a  commission  to  investigate  the  conditions  which 
brought  about  the  strike,  composed  of  Carroll  D.  Wright, 
Commissioner  of  Labor,  John  D.  Kernan,  N.  Y.,  and 
Nicholas  E.  Worthington,  111.  On  August  5th,  1894,  the 
delegates  of  twenty-four  local  Unions  met  in  Chicago  and 
formally  declared  the  strike  off,  except  in  so  far  as  the 
respective  local  Unions  chose  to  assume  the  responsibility 
of  further  local  contention.  On  the  7th  the  Governor  of 
Illinois  called  home  the  troops  from  Pullman  and  Chicago. 

Thus  passed  into  history,  after  a  bitter  issue  of  forty 
days'  duration,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  strikes  of  the 
age.  It  was  a  failure  as  to  its  direct  aim,  and  disastrous  in 
the  extreme  as  to  its  immediate  bearings  on  the  cause  of 
organized  labor.  As  to  its  more  remote  results,  the  solu- 
tion must  be  left  to  time.  No  one  can  doubt  that  it  was 
fruitful  of  lessons  for  labor  and  capital,  for  politician  and 
economist,  for  the  sociologist  and  ethical  scholar.  It 
became  the  subject  of  long  and  profound  study,  and  fur- 
nished volumes  of  labored  comment  as  to  its  causes,  con- 
duct and  consequences. 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL. 

IN  his  message  to  the  Fiftieth  Congress,  December  5,  1887, 
President  Cleveland  took  direct  issue  with  the  doctrine  of 
American  Protection,  and  in  such  a  way  as  to  leave  no 
doubt  of  his  intention  to  commit  his  party  to  what  he  called 
"tariff  reform."  His  message,  on  that  occasion, 'was  a 
brief  paper  of  4500  words,  and  an  entirely  new  departure  in 
the  way  of  annual  messages.  It  made  no  allusion  to  the 
various  matters  of  moment  presented  by  the  heads  of  de- 
partments in  their  annual  reports,  nor  to  any  contemplated 
measure  of  national  import,  save  that  branch  of  finance 
which  concerned  taxation,  customs  duties  and  the  Treasury 
surplus.  In  this  respect  it  was  a  special  paper,  rather  than 
an  executive  review  of  the  affairs  of  the  whole  country, 
and  was  manifestly  called  forth  by  an  existing  party 
demand  for  definite  party  action  during  the  session  of  the 
Congress. 

This  important  message  indicated  a  wide  departure  of  the 
President  from  the  position  held  by  him  in  former  messages, 
and  a  seemingly  sudden  conversion  to  the  free-trade  ten- 
dency of  a  majority  of  his  party.  It  was  a  surprise  to  all 
except  the  initiated,  and  was  as  widely  discussed  by  friends 
as  by  foes. 

The  friends  of  the  President  saw  in  it  a  bold,  clear  state- 
ment of  the  true  situation,  and  they  accepted  it  as  a  timely 
and  strategic  declaration  of  the  principles  of  Democracy  as 
they  must  take  shape  in  the  coming  presidential  campaign. 
Indeed  the  radical  free-traders  of  the  party  hailed  it  as  high 
evidence  of  the  progress  of  their  cause,.and  rejoiced  over  so 

(455) 


456  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL- 

signal  a  recognition  of  their  views  by  one  so  exalted  as  the 
President  of  the  United  States. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  more  conservative  element  of  the 
party,  known  as  the  "  Protection,"  or  "  Revenue  Reform," 
element,  did  not  look  upon  it  kindly.  They  regarded  it  as 
an  unwise  paper  at  that  particular  juncture,  and  as  contain- 
ing the  seeds  of  disaster  to  the  party,  while  its  direct  effect 
was  to  crush  them  as  a  powerful  minority  factor  inside  of 
the  party,  or  perhaps  drive  them  out  forever. 

The  Republicans  accepted  it  as  a  direct  offer  of  battle 
between  the  forces  of  Free-trade  and  Protection,  not  only 
in  the  halls  of  Congress  but  in  the  approaching  cam- 
paign. They  regarded  the  plea  of  "  tariff  reform  "  as  a 
disguise  for  ultimate  "  free-trade,"  and  criticised  the  mes- 
sage for  its  lack  of  new  and  convincing  arguments,  for  its 
harsh  discrimination  against  the  protective  system  in  general, 
and  the  item  of  wool  which  was  specially  attacked,  and  for 
its  unnecessarily  bitter  spirit,  as  evinced  by  several  passages 
they  picked  out,  such  as,  "  But  our  present  tariff  laws,  the 
vicious,  inequitable  and  illogical  source  of  unnecessary 
taxation  ought  to  be  at  once  revised  and  amended." 

The  Republicans  further  looked  upon  the  message  as  dis- 
ingenuous and  illogical  in  the  respect  that  while  the  Presi- 
dent professed  to  be  moved  by  an  earnest  and  honest  desire 
to  reduce  the  surplus  in  the  Treasury  by  reducing  the 
burdens  of  taxation,  he  entirely  overlooked  the  very  easy, 
speedy  and  popular  means  of  doing  it  by  abolishing  the 
internal  revenue  taxes — a  set  of  taxes  always  denounced  by 
Democrats  as  odious  to  the  masses,  iniquitous  in  principle 
and  savoring  of  war  times, — but  instead,  selected  as  a  means 
that  which  would  prove  a  direct  and  forcible  blow  to 
American  industries  and  the  entire  system  of  protection  ; 
also  a  means  which  would  not  work  out  in  practice,  since 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  457 

to  reduce  duties  on  articles  of  import  below  the  point  of 
protection  was  but  to  invite  larger  imports  of  those  articles 
and  therefore  an  equal  if  not  an  increased  revenue. 

In  pursuance  of  Mr.  Cleveland's  message  and  the  general 
obligation  his  party  was  under  to  speed  the  cause  of 
"  tariff  reform,"  a  tariff  measure  was  formulated  in  the 
House  and  championed  by  Mr.  Mills,  of  Texas,  wherefore 
it  became  known  as  the  "  Mills  Bill."  It  was  early  evident 
that  this  bill  would  become  an  absorbing  measure  of  the 
session,  and  that  party  lines  would  be  closely  drawn  upon 
it,  save  as  Mr.  Randall  and  his  followers  chose  to  divert  a 
Democratic  contingent  into  Republican  channels. 

The  "  Mills  Bill  "  had  for  its  cardinal  principle  a  general 
lowering  of  the  scale  of  duties  on  imports,  and  a  wide  en- 
largement of  the  free-list  by  placing  thereon  articles  classed 
as  raw  materials,  among  which  was  wool.  It  made  a  slight 
reduction  in  the  internal  revenue  tax  on  tobacco,  and  left  the 
tax  on  whisky  untouched,  except  as  to  the  product  of  small 
stills.  It  was  not  passed  in  the  House  until  July  21,  1888, 
and  then  by  a  vote  of  162  to  149  against.  Its  course 
through  the  House  had  consumed  so  much  time,  and, 
moreover,  it  was  so  hostile  to  a  majority  of  the  Senate,  that 
it  was  not  taken  up  for  discussion  by  that  body,  but  a 
counter  bill  was  drawn  and  discussed,  which  embodied  more 
fully  the  economic  views  of  the  Senate's  majority.  These 
two  bills  cast  the  Democratic  majority  in  the  House  and 
the  Republican  majority  in  the  Senate  hopelessly  wide  apart 
in  their  economic  views,  and  as  each  had  provided  all  the 
issues  requisite  for  the  presidential  campaign,  tariff  legis- 
lation for  the  session  ended. 

In  the  St.  Louis  National  Convention  of  1888,  the  Demo- 
crats re-nominated  Mr.  Cleveland,  endorsed  his  celebrated 
"tariff  reform  "  message  of  1887,  and  incorporated  a  plank 


458  THE  WILSON  TARIFF 

in  the  platform  which  affirmed  the  principle  of  tariff  reduc- 
tions. On  the  issues  thus  presented  to  the  country,  Mr. 
Cleveland  was  defeated,  but  in  his  message  to  the  second 
session  of  the  Fiftieth  Congress,  December  3,  1888,  he  re- 
affirmed his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  tariff  reform,  and 
expressed  faith  in  its  ultimate  triumph.  Notwithstanding 
his  heroic  attitude,  the  Democrats  in  the  House  failed  to 
formulate  a  tariff  bill  which  embodied  their  convictions. 
The  Senate  passed  the  bill ;  it  had  been  drawn  and  discussed 
at  the  former  session.  When  it  was  sent  to  the  House,  it 
did  not  even  provoke  a  general  debate,  but  became  the 
victim  of  compromises  and  substitutes,  all  of  which  were 
either  lost  by  direct  votes  or  defeated  by  dilatory  tactics. 
Thus  tariff  legislation  for  the  session,  and  the  Fiftieth  Con- 
gress, failed  to  take  practical  form. 

It  is  not  our  object  here  to  tell  of  how  the  Republican 
majority  in  the  Fifty-first  Congress,  small  though  that 
majority  was,  took  prompt  advantage  of  its  opportunity  and 
enacted  the  McKinley  tariff  measure,  a  measure  which 
embodied  the  doctrine  of  protection  as  then  entertained  by 
the  Republican  party,  to  a  fuller  extent  than  any  preceding 
act.  The  underlying  principles  and  cardinal  features  of  this 
have  been  treated  of  elsewhere.  This  act,  so  thoroughly 
protective,  so  novel  in  the  respect  that  introduced  the 
doctrine  of  reciprocity,  and  so  defiant  of  the  Democratic 
attitude  for  the  past  few  years,  seemed  to  encourage  rather 
than  dampen  Democratic  opposition.  The  party  went 
bravely  and  somewhat  vindictively  before  the  country  in  the 
Congressional  elections  of  1890,  with  hardly  any  issue  in 
hand  save  determined  hostility  to  the  Republican  doctrine 
of  protection.  It  pictured  in  lurid  colors  the  calamities  that 
were  sure  to  follow  in  the  wake  of  the  McKinley  Act,  and 
denounced  it  so  vigorously  on  the  stump  as  to  swing  the 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  459 

sentiment  of  two  years  before  so  far  around  that  reverses 
far  more  disastrous  than  those  of  1882  fell  upon  the 
Republicans.  Their  majority  in  the  Fifty-first  Congress 
was  turned  into  a  decided  Democratic  majority  in  the 
House  of  the  Fifty-second  Congress,  and  besides  this  they 
lost  Governors  and  Legislators  in  many  strong  Republican 
States. 

Thus  encouraged,  the  Democrats  entered  the  House  of  the 
Fifty-second  Congress  in  jubilant  mood,  and  with  the 
determination  to  fulfil  their  pledge  to  the  country  to  wipe 
out  the  odious  McKinley  Act,  and  substitute,  as  far  as  they 
could,  an  act  which  embraced  their  own  views.  It  was  not 
clear  to  their  own  minds  what  those  views  were,  for  they  had 
taken  different  shapes  in  the  various  congressional  districts, 
and  had  been  graded  off  to  suit  localities  and  promote  the 
successes  of  candidates,  till  they  covered  every  note 
in  the  scale  which  began  with  outright  free-trade 
and  ended  with  modified  protection.  Mr.  Cleveland's  an- 
nouncement that  opposition  to  protection  and  the  attitude 
of  his  party  could  be  sufficiently  expressed  under  the  color 
of  "tariff  reform  "  gave  but  a  poor  cue  to  definite  purpose, 
in  the  absence  of  a  well-worded  plank  in  a  National  plat- 
form. But  with  all  this  cloudiness  as  to  precisely  what 
should  be  done  and  how  to  do  it,  the  fact  still  existed  that 
enmity  against  the  McKinley  Act  had  composed  the  verdict 
of  the  country  and  that  it  would  be  craven  to  ignore  a 
verdict  which  had  been  so  emphatic. 

The  count  of  the  House  revealed  the  astounding  result 
of  a  more  than  two-thirds  Democratic  majority.  The  party 
could,  therefore,  afford  to  be  as  bold  and  merciless  in  its 
legislation  as  it  had  been  in  the  campaign.  The  pledge  was 
upon  it  to  vindicate  the  logic  of  the  stump  and  the  promises 
of  leaders  to  relieve  the  country  from  the  exactions  imposed 


460  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL. 

by  protection,  and  introduce  an  era  of  cheapened  products 
and  enlarged  prosperity.  Any  failure  to  meet  the  plain 
pledges  of  the  party  to  the  people  would  be  regarded  as 
cowardice,  and  this  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
Republicans  of  the  preceding  Congress,  with  their  very  slim 
majority,  had  set  so  significant  an  example  of  industry  and 
promptitude  in  the  passage  of  their  favorite  protective 
measure. 

Thus,  flushed  with  its  successes  at  the  polls  and  with  a 
plain  duty  before  it,  the  Democrats  of  the  Fifty-second 
Congress,  naturally  rallied  to  their  most  cherished  leader 
and  strongly  equipped  man.  This  was  Roger  Q.  Mills,  of 
Texas,  who  had  been  the  father  of  the  "  Mills'  tariff  bill"  in  the 
Forty-ninth  Congress.  He  had  shown  wonderful  ardor  and  in- 
defatigable industry  in  the  preparation  of  his  bill,  and  had 
given  it  masterly  advocacy.  He  had  made  an  extended 
stumping  tour  in  the  Northern  States,  and  had  been  out- 
spoken in  his  views  regarding  the  merits  of  free-trade  and 
against  the  doctrine  of  American  protection.  He  had  done 
more  to  formulate  and  expound  the  antagonism  to  the  pro- 
tective idea  than  any  other  Democratic  spokesman,  and  had 
thereby  carried  the  confidence  and  respect  of  his  party. 
His  ability  was  unquestioned,  and  his  economic  views,  so 
well  defined,  were  pivotal  in  a  situation  such  as  now  con- 
fronted his  party  and  the  country. 

Under  any  ordinary  circumstances,  the  devotion  and 
number  of  his  friends  in  the  Congress  must  have  easily 
elevated  him  to  the  high  and  responsible  office  of  Speaker 
of  the  House.  The  honor  was  deserved  and  coveted.  But  the 
circumstances  proved  to  be  most  extraordinary.  The  party 
stood  in  mortal  fear  of  its  own  overwhelming  majority- — a 
majority  raw  in  legislation,  and  of  which  each  individual  factor 
had  been  a  sort  of  platform  unto  hiniself  in  the  campaign.. 


"V\TM.  L.  WILSON, 

Chairman  of  House  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  and  Author  of 
the  Wilson  Tariff  Bill. 

Born  in  Jefferson  co,  Va.,  May  3,  1843 ;  graduated  from  University 
of  Virginia  in  1860  ;  served  in  the  Confederate  army ;  for  several  years 
Professor  in  Columbian  College ;  resigned  and  entered  practice  of  law  at 
Charlestown,  W.  Va.;  elected  President  of  West  Virginia  University  in 
1882 ;  elected  to  49th,  50th,  51st,  52d  and  53d  Congresses ;  in  latter  Con- 
gress served  as  Chairman  of  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means. 

(46o) 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  463 

The  dread  arose  lest  coherence  of  views  could  not  be 
effected,  even  with  so  masterful  a  mind  as  that  of  Mr.  Mills 
in  the  Speaker's  chair.  His  views  had  been  pronounced. 
It  was  well  known  what  he  would  do.  He  could  not  do 
else,  in  vindication  of  his  past  efforts,  and  out  of  respect  to 
his  present  judgment  and  the  pronounced  verdict  of  the 
country  than  hew  to  the  lines  he  had  laid  down  for  himself 
and  his  party  in  the  Forty-ninth  Congress. 

With  all  its  previous  campaign  boldness  and  all  the 
emphasis  of  the  late  verdict  in  its  favor,  the  party,  when  thus 
confronted  with  itself  in  legislative  session,  shrank  from  the 
ordeal  which  was  of  its  own  creation.  Despite  the  loud 
call  that  had  been  made  upon  it,  and  the  clamor  within  its 
ranks  for  prompt  action,  it  trembled  at  the  anticipation  of 
framing  a  tariff  bill  which  should  stand  as  a  square  counter 
to  the  McKinley  Act.  Would  not  such  action  defeat  itself  by 
the  uncertainties  of  the  ground  ahead,  by  the  sowing  of 
discords,  by  the  conflict  of  sections  ?  Would  it  not  entail 
the  opening  of  the  silver  question,  and  the  passage  of  a 
"free  coinage  act,"  a  measure  insisted  upon  in  the  plat- 
forms of  a  majority  of  the  Democratic  States  ?  But  most 
of  all,  would  not  the  experiment  of  entering  upon  such  tariff 
legislation  as  the  party  demanded,  and  in  view  of  the 
heterogeneous  and  crude  elements  which  composed  the 
overwhelming  majority  in  the  House,  prove  a  demoralizing 
and  dangerous  one  at  a  time  when  political  lines  were  shap- 
ing up  for  the  presidential  campaign  of  1892  ? 

No  doubt  this  last  was  the  weightiest  of  all  the  considera- 
tions which  entered  into  this  extraordinary  situation.  At 
any  rate,  without  noticeable  diminution  of  the  prevalent  free 
trade  or  tariff  reform  sentiment  of  the  party,  or  any  mani- 
fest abatement  of  the  expressed  opposition  to  the  doctrine 
of  American  protection  as  embodied  in  the  tariff  act  of 


464  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL. 

1890,  there  came  about  a  sudden  and  very  marked  change 
as  to  the  expediency  of  precipitating  a  direct  attack  upon 
that  measure.  The  party  was  confronted  with  a  question  of 
policy  which  eclipsed  the  importance  of  its  late  victory  and 
overshadowed  the  sanctity  of  recent  obligations.  Had  not 
the  overwhelming  victories  of  1890  proven  an  earnest 
that  they  could  be  repeated  with  greater  emphasis  in  1892, 
and  perhaps  bear  a  President  on  their  crests?  Were  there 
not  already  evidences  of  reaction  in  the  public  mind,  and 
had  not  the  calamities  which  were  to  follow  the  McKinley 
Act  been  overstated  ?  Or,  if  not  overstated,  would  not  the 
bad  features  of  the  act  crop  out  as  time  passed,  and  prove  as 
so  many  additional  arguments  against  it  ?  What  was  the 
use  of  taking  any  risks  as  to  a  situation  which  promised  to 
grow  better  if  let  alone,  but  which  might  be  hopelessly 
spoiled  if  the  party  were  once  plunged  into  the  sea  of  tariff 
breaking  and  making  ? 

In  the  midst  of  a  terror  as  to  results  of  any  positive 
action,  the  idea  of  policy  took  full  dominion  of  the  party, 
and  after  a  long  and  acrimonious  struggle  over  the  speaker- 
ship,  Mr.  Mills  was  sacrificed,  and  Mr.  Crisp,  of  Georgia, 
was  elected  Speaker.  This  meant  the  abandonment  of  a 
full-fledged  tariff  bill  as  a  counter  to  the  McKinley  Act,  and 
the  substitution  of  a  series  of  minor  and  indirect  attacks 
upon  special  articles  and  schedules  of  the  act  of  1890. 
The  plan  was  not  heartily  endorsed  by  the  party  at  large, 
and  was  even  opposed  by  that  conscientious  and  earnest 
element  which  refused  to  find  in  the  glory  of  expediency  an 
excuse  for  cowardice.  Yet  there  was  sufficient  acquiescence 
to  give  to  the  plan  the  merit  of  holding  party  lines  and 
opening  the  way  for  animated  discussion  of  the  tariff  reform 
doctrines.  If  constituents  expressed  disappointment  at  the 
plan,  they  could  readily  be  appeased  by  promises  of  greater 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  465 

victories  in  the  near  future.  To  every  charge  that  it  savored 
of  cowardice  and  surrender,  the  answer  was  ready  that 
diplomacy  was  wiser  than  haste — to  divide  the  enemy  was 
to  conquer  it.  It  cannot  be  said  that  any  of  these  excuses 
obscured  for  a  moment  that  general  justification  of  the  plan, 
found  in  the  fact  that  it  was  the  surest  one  at  hand  for 
avoiding  the  danger  involved  in  an  opening  of  the  whole 
tariff  subject  in  a  House  with  an  overwhelming  majority, 
composed  of  untried  members,  and  each  self-reliant  and 
audacious  in  the  face  of  magnificent  victory. 

The  result  of  the  plan  was  a  series  of  separate  tariff  bills 
in  the  House,  each  having  for  its  object  the  repeal  or  modi- 
fication of  special  clauses  of  the  McKinley  Act.  These 
minor  bills  served  to  draw  animated  debate  and  to  empha- 
size the  attitude  of  the  Democratic  majority.  Of  these,  the 
Springer  bill  was  most  conspicuous  and  most  earnestly 
debated,  because  it  was  supposed  to  foreshadow  more  clearly 
than  any  other  the  policy  of  the  party  as  it  would  be  pro- 
jected into  the  coming  presidential  campaign.  It  placed 
wool  on  the  free  list,  and  reduced  the  duties  on  all  manu- 
factures of  wool.  All,  or  nearly  all  of  these  minor  bills 
were  passed  by  decided  party  majorities,  and  they  all  pointed 
in  one  direction,  viz.,  toward  a  lowering  or  entire  repeal 
of  duties.  Thus  cotton  bagging,  cotton  ties  and  gins,  cot- 
ton bagging  machinery,  binding  twine,  tin  and  terne  plates 
were  placed  on  the  free  list.  This  peculiar  method  of 
attack,  facetiously  known  as  the  "  pop-gun  "  method,  seemed 
to  serve  its  purpose  well.  Though  interest  in  it  flagged  as 
the  session  drew  its  weary  length  along,  it  was  never  at  any 
time  without  a  majority  of  pleased  supporters,  most  of 
whom  applauded  its  time-consuming  features,  and  its  admir- 
able fitness  for  holding  that  situation  in  perfect  abeyance 


466  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL. 

which  might,  otherwise,  have  been  endangered  by  a  general 
sweep  of  tumultuous  forces. 

The  question  has  often  been  mooted  as  to  how  far  Mr. 
Cleveland  was  responsible  for  this  failure  of  the  Democratic 
majority  in  the  Fifty-second  Congress  to  respond  to  the 
emphatic  wishes  of  the  people.  Many  leaders  professed  to 
see  his  fine  hand  through  the  whole  of  that  stupendous 
manoeuvre  which  rendered  nugatory  the  expression  of  a 
direct  tariff  wish  on  the  part  of  the  entire  Congress.  Some 
laid  the  policy  of  inaction  and  delay  to  his  desire  to  be  at 
the  fore  again  in  his  cherished  battle  of  "  tariff  reform,"  as 
a  presidential  candidate,  when  hopes  of  victory  would  be 
brighter  than  ever  before,  and  when  nothing  could  occur 
to  dim  the  honors  of  leadership.  If  all  this  be  true,  his 
sagacity  was  well  proved,  for  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  Democratic  majority  in  the  House  of  the  Fifty-second 
Congress  not  only  escaped  the  dangers  it  feared  through 
excess  of  forces,  but,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  paved 
the  way  for  Mr.  Cleveland's  re-nomination. 

The  lustre  of  his  championship  of  tariff  reform,  the 
making  of  it  a  party  issue,  the  high  hope  he  indulged  as 
to  its  future  success,  the  shrewd  calculation  on  his  part  that 
the  battles  must  be  many  and  stubborn  before  a  system  so 
strongly  entrenched  as  that  of  protection  could  be  made  to 
yield,  were  all  as  so  many  pointers  toward  his  selection  as 
leader  for  a  second  time.  Indeed,  they  all  came  out  with 
telling  effect  in  the  Chicago  Convention  of  1892.  Nothing 
said  of  him  there  so  conduced  to  his  strength  as  a  candi- 
date as  these  words  of  the  nominating  orator  : — 

"  The  question  has  been  asked,  Why  is  it  that  the  masses 
of  the  party  demand  the  nomination  of  Grover  Cleveland  ? 
Why  is  it  that  this  man  who  has  no  office  to  distribute,  no 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  467 

wealth  to  command,  should  have  stirred  the  spontaneous 
support  of  the  great  body  of  Democracy  ?  Why  is  it  that 
with  all  that  has  been  urged  against  him  the  people  still  cry? 
Give  us  Cleveland  ?  Why  is  it,  though  he  has  pronounced 
in  honest,  clear  and  able  language  his  views  upon  questions 
upon  which  some  of  his  party  may  differ  with  him,  that  he 
is  still  near  and  dear  to  the  masses  ? 

"  It  is  because  he  has  crystallized  into  a  living  issue  the 
great  principle  upon  which  this  battle  is  to  be  fought  out. 
If  he  did  not  create  tariff  reform,  he  made  it  a  presidential 
issue.  He  vitalized  it,  and  presented  it  to  our  party  as  the 
issue  for  which  we  ought  to  fight,  and  continued  to  battle 
upon  it  until  victory  is  now  assured. 

"  There  are  few  men  in  his  position  who  would  have  the 
courage  to  boldly  make  the  issue  and  present  it  so  clearly 
and  forcibly  as  he  did  in  his  great  message  of  1887.  I 
believe  that  his  policy  then  was  to  force  a  national  issue 
which  would  appeal  to  the  judgment  of  the  people.  We 
must  honor  a  man  who  is  honest  enough  and  bold  enough 
under  such  circumstances  to  proclaim  that  the  success  of 
the  party  upon  principle  is  better  than  evasion  or  shirking 
of  true  national  issues  for  temporary  success.  When  vic- 
tory is  obtained  upon  a  principle,  it  forms  the  solid  founda- 
tion of  party  success  in  the  future.  It  is  no  longer  the 
question  of  a  battle  to  be  won  on  the  mistakes  of  our  foes, 
but  it  is  a  victory  to  be  accomplished  by  a  charge  along  the 
whole  line  under  the  banner  of  principle. 

"  There  is  another  reason  why  the  people  demand  his 
nomination.  They  feel  that  the  tariff  reform  views  of  Pres- 
ident Cleveland  and  the  principles  laid  down  in  his  great 
message,  whatever  its  temporary  effect  may  have  been,  give 
us  a  live  and  a  vital  issue  to  fight  for,  which  has  made  the 
great  victories  since  1888  possible.  It  consolidated  in  one 


468  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL. 

solid  phalanx  the  Democracy  of  the  nation.  In»every  State 
of  this  Union  that  policy  has  been  placed  in  Democratic 
platforms,  and  our  battles  have  been  fought  upon  it,  and 
this  great  body  of  representative  Democrats  have  seen  its 
good  results." 

This  was  the  key  to  that  logic  of  the  situation  which 
made  Mr.  Cleveland  a  further  leader  of  the  tariff  reform 
forces,  forces  which  were  to  be  shaped  for  future  and 
earnest  battles.  The  Committee  on  Resolutions  framed 
its  tariff  plank  so  as  to  reflect  the  wishes  of  the  leader 
and  not  distort  a  perilous  situation.  They  no  doubt  pushed 
their  doctrine  as  far  as  they  dared,  but  along  conservative 
lines.  Their  tariff  plank  read  : — 

"  We  reiterate  the  oft-repeated  doctrines  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  that  the  necessity  of  the  government  is  the 
only  justification  for  taxation,  and  whenever  a  tax  is  un- 
necessary it  is  unjustifiable;  that  when  Custom  House 
taxation  is  levied  upon  articles  of  any  kind  produced  in 
this  country,  the  difference  between  the  cost  of  labor  here 
and  labor  abroad,  when  such  difference  exists,  fully  measures 
any  possible  benefits  to  labor,  and  the  enormous  additional 
impositions  of  the  existing  tariff  fall  with  crushing  force  on 
our  farmers  and  workingmen  and,  for  the  mere  advantage 
of  the  few  whom  it  enriches,  exact  from  labor  a  grossly 
unjust  share  of  the  expenses  of  the  government,  and  we 
demand  such  a  revision  of  the  tariff  laws  as  will  remove 
their  iniquitous  inequalities,  lighten  their  oppressions  and 
put  them  on  a  constitutional  and  equitable  basis. 

"  But  in  making  reduction  in  taxes,  it  is  not  proposed  to 
injure  any  domestic  industries,  but  rather  to  promote  their 
healthy  growth.  From  the  foundation  of  this  government, 
taxes  collected  at  the  Custom  House  have  been  the  chief 
source  of  federal  revenue.  Such  they  must  continue  to  be. 


WILSON  TARIFF  BILI*  4e9 

Moreover,  many  industries  have  come  to  rely  upon  legisla- 
tion for  successful  continuance,  so  that  any  change  of  law 
must  be  at  every  step  regardful  of  the  labor  and  capital  thus 
involved.  The  process  of  reform  must  be  subject  in  the 
execution  to  this  plain  dictate  of  justice." 

The  above  plank  supported  the  traditions  of  the  party 
and  was  believed  to  be  sufficiently  advanced  to  meet  the 
views  of  all  who  did  not  find  in  the  rather  catching,  yet 
vague,  title  of  "  tariff  reform,"  a  cover  for  out-and-out  free- 
trade  sentiments.  But  it  did  not  please  a  majority  of  the 
Convention,  to  whom  "  tariff  reform  "  had  no  meaning,  who 
wished  to  express  their  disgust  at  the  cowardice  of  the  party 
in  the  last  session  of  Congress,  or  who  believed  that  the 
time  had  passed  for  further  disguise  of  the  fact  that  the  real 
issue  was  one  between  "  Free  Trade  "  and  Protection.  This 
majority  therefore  agreed  to  make  their  departure  then  and 
there,  cost  what  it  might  to  the  party.  It  was  loudly  hinted 
that  in  their  rather  desperate  action  they  sought  the  defeat 
of  Mr.  Cleveland,  but  there  was  no  warrant  for  this.  They 
wanted  an  issue  without  disguises.  They  were  confident  of 
solid  support  in  the  South,  where  the  Confederate  Constitu- 
tion had,  in  years  gone  by,  enacted  free  trade.  So  they 
determined  to  throw  the  gauntlet  squarely  down  and  force 
protection  to  the  wall.  They  did  this  by  moving  the  follow- 
ing radical  plank  and  voting  it  as  a  substitute  for  the  one 
reported  by  the  Platform  Committee : — 

"  We  denounce  Republican  Protection  as  a  fraud— as 
a  robbery  of  a  great  majority  of  the  American  people 
for  the  benefit  of  a  few.  We  declare  it  to  be  a  funda- 
mental principle  of  the  Democratic  party  that  the  govern- 
ment has  no  constitutional  power  to  impose  and  collect 
a  dollar  for  tax  except  for  purposes  of  revenue  only, 
and  demand  that  the  collection  of  such  taxes  be  imposed 


470  THE  WILSON  TARIFF   BIT,!,. 

by  the  government  when  only  honestly  and  economically 
administered. 

"  We  denounce  the  McKinley  tariff  law  enacted  by  the 
Fifty-first  Congress  as  the  culminating  atrocity  of  class  leg- 
islation :  we  endorse  the  efforts  made  by  the  Democrats  of 
the  present  Congress  to  modify  its  most  oppressive  features 
in  the  direction  of  free  raw  materials  and  cheaper  manufac- 
tured goods  that  enter  into  general  consumption,  and  we 
promise  its  repeal  as  one  of  the  beneficent  results  that  will 
follow  the  action  of  the  people  in  entrusting  power  to  the 
Democratic  party.  Since  the  McKinley  tariff  went  into 
operation  there  have  been  ten  reductions  of  the  wages  of 
laboring  men  to  one  increase.  We  deny  that  there  has  been 
any  increase  of  prosperity  to  the  country  since  that  tariff 
went  into  operation,  and  we  point  to  the  dulness  and  dis- 
tress, the  wage  reductions  and  strikes  in  the  iron  trade  as 
the  best  possible  evidence  that  no  such  prosperity  has 
resulted  from  the  McKinley  Act. 

"  We  call  the  attention  of  thoughtful  Americans  to  the 
fact  that  after  thirty  years  of  restrictive  taxes  against  the 
importation  of  foreign  wealth  in  exchange  for  our  agricul- 
tural surplus  the  homes  and  farms  of  the  country  have 
become  burdened  with  a  real  estate  mortgage  debt  of  over 
$2,500,000,000,  exclusive  of  all  other  forms  of  indebtedness ; 
that  in  one  of  the  chief  agricultural  States  of  the  West  there 
appears  a  real  estate  mortgage  debt  averaging  $165  per 
capita  of  the  total  population,  and  that  similar  conditions 
and  tendencies  are  shown  to  exist  in  the  other  agricultural 
exporting  States.  We  denounce  a  policy  which  fosters  no 
industry  so  much  as  it  does  that  of  the  Sheriff." 

This  bold  announcement  of  sentiments  to  which  a  great 
party  was  asked  to  subscribe  and  upon  which  it  was  to  stake 
the  issues  of  a  presidential  campaign  was  received  every- 


THR  WILSON  TARIFF   BILt.  471 

where  with  surprise  and  consternation.  It  indicated  such 
an  advance  as  must  have  inevitably  led  to  party  schism  and 
final  defeat,  had  it  not  been  possible  to  cultivate  the  saving 
thought  that  Mr.  Cleveland,  through  his  intense  convictions 
and  powerful  personalism,  could  well  afford  to  be  a  platform 
unto  himself,  and  would  undoubtedly  repudiate  what  he 
found  offensive  in  the  above  plank.  Indeed  he  greatly 
modified  and  toned  the  asperities  of  the  plank  in  his  letter 
of  acceptance,  and  gave  the  country  the  assurance  that  no 
war  of  extermination  was  contemplated  against  American 
interests.  These  were  his  words  :  "  Tariff  Reform  is  still  our 
purpose;  though  we  oppose  the  theory  that  tariff  laws  may 
be  passed  having  for  their  object  the  granting  of  dis- 
criminating and  unfair  governmental  aid  to  private  ven- 
tures, we  wage  no  exterminating  war  against  any  American 
interests.  We  believe  a  readjustment  can  be  accomplished 
in  accordance  with  the  principles  we  profess,  without 
disaster  or  demolition.  We  believe  that  the  advantages 
of  freer  raw  material  should  be  accorded  our  manufac- 
turers, and  we  contemplate  a  fair  and  careful  distribution 
of  necessary  tariff  burdens,  rather  than  the  precipitation  of 
free  trade." 

This  served  to  take  the  sting  out  of  those  savage  sen- 
tences such  as,"  We  denounce  Republican  protection  as  a 
fraud  ;  "  "  That  the  government  has  no  constitutional  power 
to  impose  and  collect  a  dollar  for  tax  except  for  purposes 
of  internal  revenue  ;  "  "  We  denounce  the  McKinley  tariff 
law  as  the  culminating  atrocity  of  class  legislation,"  etc., 
etc.,  and  to  reconcile  the  results  of  the  Convention  to  those 
who  before  regarded  them  as  containing  the  seeds  of 
political  disaster.  The  campaign  shaped  up  actively  on  this 

basis  and  with  the  result  that  Mr.  Cleveland  was  elected 

i 

together  with  a  majority  of  his  party  in  both   House  and 


472  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BlLt. 

Senate,  thus  giving  to  the  Democrats  their  first  full  control 
of  the  government  in  thirty-two  years. 

So  pronounced  a  victory  brought  the  party  squarely  face 
to  face  with  its  platform  pledges,  and  not  a  few  of  the  more 
impatient  leaders  clamored  for  opportunity  to  strike  a  swift 
and  sure  blow  at  the  fabric  of  protection.  But  Mr.  Cleve- 
land, in  his  inaugural,  March  4,  1893,  was  by  no  means  as 
decided  in  his  tariff  reform  views  as  in  his  celebrated  mes- 
sage of  1887.  He  generalized  on  the  subject,  and  instead 
of  direct  attack  on  protection,  spoke  of  the  evils  of  pater- 
nalism. His  language  was:  "  The  verdict  of  our  voters 
which  condemned  the  injury  of  maintaining  protection  for 
protection's  sake  enjoins  upon  the  peoples'  servants  the  duty 
of  exposing  and  destroying  the  brood  of  kindred  evils 
which  are  the  unwholesome  progeny  of  paternalism.  This 
is  the  bane  of  Republican  institutions  and  the  constant  peril 
of  our  government  by  the  people.  It  degrades  to  the  pur- 
poses of  wily  craft  the  plan  of  rule  our  fathers  established 
and  bequeathed  to  us  as  an  object  of  veneration.  It  per- 
verts the  patriotic  sentiment  of  our  countrymen  and  tempts 
them  to  a  pitiful  calculation  of  sordid  gain  to  be  derived 
from  their  government's  maintenance.  It  undermines  the 
self-reliance  of  our  people  and  substitutes  in  its  place  de- 
pendence upon  governmental  favoritism.  It  stifles  the  spirit 
of  true  Americanism  and  stupifies  every  enobling  trait  of 
citizenship." 

This  generalization  betokened  caution  on  the  part  of  the 
newly  elected  President,  and  it  was  disappointing  to  those 
who  anticipated  an  immediate  joining  of  the  issues  as  laid 
down  in  the  party  platform.  It  was  evident  that  Mr.  Cleve- 
land was  not  going  to  be  precipitate.  Those  who  had  sup- 
ported him  on  the  theory  that  he  was  stronger  than  his 
party,  and  with  the  faith  that  his  conservatism  in  all  things 


THE  WIIvSON  TARIFF  BIU,.  473 

could  be  relied  on  till  the  end ;  those  Republican  admirers 
who  attributed  to  him  a  geflius  for  statesmanship  which  only 
required  an  emergency  to  unfold,  and  which  would  then 
show  its  greatness  by  constructive,  rather  than  destructive 
vigor — these  looked  upon  his  attitude  thus  far  as  a  vindica- 
tion of  their  judgments  respecting  him. 

No  doubt  Mr.  Cleveland  acted  wisely.  He  had  witnessed 
the  dangers  that  arose  from  a  large,  newly  elected  and  incon- 
gruous House  in  the  Fifty-second  Congress.  But  then,  no 
such  central  and  radical  plank  touching  tariff  legislation  had 
been  made  an  issue.  Now  the  elements  were  still  more  incon- 
gruous, for  the  political  upheaval  had  come  about  by  alli- 
ances with  the  populistic  and  communistic  forces,  and  with 
the  discontented  of  every  political  persuasion  ;  and  now  too 
the  verdict  was  such  as  to  emphasize  every  expression  of 
a  national  platform.  He  must  get  acquainted  with  these 
new  men  and  forces,  must  see  the  sun  after  the  storm  of 
campaign  and  take  fresh  bearings  for  his  administration. 

We  now  reach  that  period,  almost  synchronous  with  Mr. 
Cleveland's  inauguration,  when  great  waves  of  commercial 
doubt  swept  over  the  country,  when  the  conditions  bordered 
on  panic,  when  industries  withered  before  a  new  political 
regime,  when  idleness,  want  and  distress  became  the  bitter 
portion  of  workingmen.  These  calamities  had  a  cause, 
chief  of  which,  as  sentiment  went,  were  the  existence  of  the 
Sherman  Silver  Act,  whose  repeal  was  demanded  by  the 
anti-silver  men  of  both  parties,  and  that  demoralizing  uncer- 
tainty which  was  created  by  anticipating  the  overthrow  of 
the  protective  system.  Clamor  arose  for  a  special  session 
of  the  Congress  to  bring  about  repeal  of  the  Silver  Act  and 
if  possible  allay  uncertainty  by  speedy  action  upon  the  Tariff. 
Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  this  clamor  was  noisy  and  per- 
sistent, Mr.  Cleveland  proved  irresponsive  for  a  long  time, 


474  THE  WItSON  TARIFF 

and  it  was  as  late  as  June  30,  1893,  when  he  issued  his  proc- 
lamation calling  the  Fifty-third  Congress  into  extra  session 
on  the  /th  of  August.  This  call  mentioned  the  distrust  and 
apprehension  which  pervaded  all  business  circles,  was  causing 
great  loss  and  damage  to  the  people,  threatening  to  cripple 
the  merchants,  stopping  the  wheels  of  manufacture,  bringing 
distress  and  privation  to  farmers  and  withholding  from 
workingmen  the  wages  of  labor.  It  attributed  the  perilous 
condition  largely  to  a  financial  policy  embodied  in  unwise 
laws,  which  must  be  executed  till  repealed  by  Congress. 

Here  was  left  open  for  the  Congress,  at  its  special  session, 
the  work  of  repealing  both  the  Sherman  and  McKinley 
Acts.  But  when  the  Congress  met  and  Mr.  Cleveland  laid 
before  it  his  message,  he  limited  the  work  o^the  session  to 
the  repeal  of  the  Sherman  Act,  there  being  no  allusion  to 
Tariff  Reform  except  in  the  concluding  portion,  where  he 
said :  "  It  was  my  purpose  to  summon  Congress  in  special 
session  in  the  coming  September  that  we  might  enter 
promptly  on  the  work  of  Tariff  Reform,  which  the  true  in- 
terests of  the  country  clearly  demand,  and  which  so  large  a 
majority  of  the  people,  as  shown  by  their  suffrages,  desire 
and  expect,  and  to  the  accomplishment  of  which  every  effort 
of  the  present  administration  is  pledged.  But  while  Tariff 
Reform  has  lost  nothing  of  its  immediate  and  permanent  im- 
portance, and  must  in  the  near  future  engage  the  attention 
of  Congress,  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  the  financial  condi- 
tion of  the  country  should  at  once,  and  before  all  other  sub- 
jects, be  considered  by  your  honorable  body." 

There  would,  therefore,  have  been  an  extra  session  called 
for  the  purpose  of  substituting  a  Tariff  Reform  Act  for  the 
McKinley  Act.  Mr.  Cleveland  was  only  driven  from  his 
purpose  by  the  financial  and  industrial  crisis  which  prevailed, 
and  the  imperative  need  of  securing  such  relief  as  the  repeal 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  475 

of  the  Sherman  Act  promised  to  give.  This  last  became  a 
sole  object  of  the  special  session,  and  had  it  not  been  so,  the 
repeal  of  the  Act  might  never  have  taken  place. 

But  while  the  object  of  the  session  was  thus  exclusive, 
the  groundwork  of  the  bill  which  became  known  as  the 
Wilson  Tariff  Bill  was  then  and  there  laid.  The  election  of 
a  Speaker,  the  arrangement  of  committees,  and  such  other 
steps  as  could  be  taken  without  interfering  with  the  special 
object  of  the  session,  all  pointed  to  early  action  on  a  tariff 
bill.  This  was  especially  so  of  the  Committee  on  Ways  and 
Means,  with  whom  the  bill  was  to  originate.  Hon.  William 
L.  Wilson,  of  West  Virginia,  was  selected  as  chairman  of 
this  committee.  This  choice  was  deemed  particularly  pleas- 
ing to  President  Cleveland,  if  it  was  not  dictated  by  him. 
The  President  had  been  for  some  time  an  admirer  of  Mr. 
Wilson,  for  his  industry  in  the  House,  his  ability  in  debate, 
and  his  grasp  of  tariff  details.  He  was  a  scholarly  man  and 
a  firm  adherent  of  the  doctrines  found  in  the  books  as  laid 
down  and  propagated  by  the  free-trade  school  of  statesmen. 
So  far  as  fitness  for  the  particular  work  in  hand  was  con- 
cerned, the  choice  could  hardly  have  fallen  on  better 
shoulders. 

What  time  could  be  saved  from  the  immediate  work  of 
the  special  session  was  given  by  this  committee,  or  at  least 
its  Democratic  majority,  to  the  work  of  formulating  a  new 
tariff  bill.  When  the  session  ended,  the  work  was  continued 
during  the  vacation,  the  object  being  to  have  it  so  far  for- 
ward as  to  warrant  its  early  introduction  and  passage  at  the 
first  regular  session  of  the  Congress,  which  met  in  December, 
1893.  This  object  was  achieved  and  the  bill  came  into  the 
House  soon  after  the  session  opened. 

A  feature  of  the  preparation  of  the  bill  was  the  adherence 
of  the  majority  of  the  committee  to  a  single  purpose  and 


476  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL. 

the  exclusion  of  everything  liable  to  interfere  with  that  pur- 
pose. Great  complaint  was  made  that  the  various  interests 
which  were  to  be  affected  were  not  given  sufficient  hearing, 
or  if  so,  that  their  facts  and  arguments  were  ignored.  But 
it  was  not  considered  necessary  to  either  hear  fully  or  to 
favor  at  all,  for  the  theory  of  the  bill  was  the  elimination  of 
protection  as  far  as  possible  and  the  establishment  of  a 
system  of  purely  revenue  duties,  with  as  near  an  approach 
as  circumstances  would  admit  of  by  an  enlargement  of  the 
free  list  to  the  doctrine  of  free  trade. 

Yet  the  bill  fell  far  short  of  what  had  been  claimed  in  the 
Chicago  platform,  that  duties  levied  for  protective  purposes 
were  unconstitutional,  for  many  of  the  duties  that  remained 
were  of  a  protective  nature.  Still,  this  may  have  been  in 
the  interest  of  certain  sections  and  industries  whose  demand 
could  not  be  denied  for  prudential  or,  more  likely,  political 
reasons.  A  characteristic  of  the  bill  was  the  almost  uni- 
versal departure  from  the  principle  of  specific  duties  and  the 
adoption  of  ad  valorem  rates.  In  this  respect  the  bill  copied 
the  old  Walker  Tariff  Act  which  went  out  of  existence  with 
the  passage  of  the  Morrill  Tariff  Act  of  1861.  It  was 
against  the  introduction  of  this  change  of  rate  that  the  Republi- 
can opponents  of  the  bill  most  strongly  inveighed  in  both 
House  and  Senate,  deeming  the  change  a  direct  invitation 
to  fraud  upon  the  Government  by  the  undervaluation  of 
their  goods  by  foreign  exporters.  But  the  counter  conten- 
tion was  that  it  was  equitable,  and  furnished  a  sliding  scale 
of  duties  suited  to  the  rise  and  fall  of  prices. 

In  general  terms,  the  bill  made  sweeping  reductions  in 
duties  as  fixed  in  the  McKinley  Act,  turned  the  lumber 
schedule  practically  into  the  free  list,  placed  wool  and  coal 
on  the  free  list,  and  brought  all  manufactures  of  wool  far 
below  the  protective  rate.  The  further  enlargement  of  the 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  477 

free  list  was  effected  by  modifications  in  all  the  schedules, 
and  most  notably  in  those  which  embraced  farm  products. 
It  struck  an  exterminating  blow  at  the  doctrine  of  reci- 
procity which  had  been  incorporated  in  the  McKinley  Act, 
and  under  which  nearly  a  score  of  treaties  had  been  made 
with  other  countries,  looking  to  reciprocal  trade  relations, 
and  with,  already,  a  great  enlargement  of  trade. 

But  the  most  conspicuous,  novel  and  unexpected  feature 
of  the  bill  was  the  introduction  into  it  of  the  income  tax 
clauses.  These  authorized  the  levying  of  a  tax  of  two  per 
cent,  upon  all  incomes  in  excess  of  four  thousand  dollars. 
During  the  civil  war  a  similar  tax  had  been  levied  as  a 
means  of  raising  revenue  at  a  time  when  expenditures  were 
extraordinary  and  when  every  other  source  of  revenue  was 
being  drained  to  the  uttermost.  It  was  deemed  to  be  an 
emergency  tax  by  the  then  Republican  party,  was  justified 
only  by  overwhelming  exigency,  was  classed  as  a  war  tax, 
and  was  promptly  repealed  after  the  emergency  passed. 
So  abhorrent  was  it  to  the  generous  and  just  sentiment  of 
the  country  in  time  of  peace,  that  after  legitimate  taxes 
became  sufficient  for  the  wants  of  the  country,  the  unex- 
pended moneys  received  by  the  Government  from  the 
income  tax  were  refunded  in  part  to  the  States  whence  they 
came. 

This  income  tax  had  ever  met  with  the  bitterest  hostility 
of  the  Democratic  party.  It  had  been  denounced  as  the 
most  tyrannical  and  exacting  of  all  war  measures  and  as 
wholly  unjustifiable  under  any  pretence.  It  had  found  no 
sympathy  in  any  Democratic  convention  or  platform,  and 
not  even  a  mention  was  made  of  it  in  the  national  platform 
of  1892.  There  was  no  evidence  existing  anywhere  that 
the  party  had  undergone  a  change  of  heart  respecting  this 
kind  of  taxation.  But  in  the  "financial  and  currency" 


478  THE  WILSON  TARIFF 

plank  of  the  Populist  platform,  adopted  at  Omaha,  the  de- 
mand was  made  for  "  a  graduated  income  tax" 

This  doubtless  furnished  the  inspiration  for  the  incorpora- 
tion of  the  income  tax  clauses  in  the  Wilson  Tariff  Bill.  It 
was  demanded,  not  by  true  Democracy,  but  by  those  allies 
who  had  figured  so  formidably  in  the  presidential  campaign 
of  1892,  and  had  contributed  so  materially  to  Democratic 
success.  It  was  a  demand  of  such  a  kind  as  to  prove  capti- 
vating to  the  South,  where  the  blending  of  Populistic  and 
Democratic  doctrines  was  such  as  to  obscure  the  political 
identity  of  both.  In  the  after  discussions  of  the  bill, 
especially  in  the  Senate,  the  Populist  members  laid  bold 
claim  to  the  fathership  of  the  income  tax  feature,  a  claim 
which  was  not  denied.  It  was  therefore  a  concession  to 
this  political  element,  a  very  wide  departure  from  recognized 
principles  of  Democracy,  and  a  stultification  of  its  past 
record  as  made  up  on  the  stump,  in  convention  or  in  legis- 
lative halls. 

Its  one  justification  by  those  who  fathered  it  was  that  the 
rich  were  not  bearing  their  full  share  of  the  burdens  of 
taxation.  This  was  supplemented,  by  those  who  favored  it 
and  introduced  it  into  the  tariff  bill,  by  the  argument  that 
an  income  tax  would  be  a  necessity,  in  as  much  as  the 
tariff  bill  as  then  framed  would  fail  to  raise  sufficient  revenue 
to  meet  the  wants  of  the  Government.  But  this  argument 
hardly  reached  the  height  of  refined  excuse,  for  the  under- 
lying principle  of  the  Wilson  Bill  was  to  substitute  a  revenue 
for  a  protective  tariff,  and  it  struck  the  economic  mind  as 
remarkable  that  in  the  establishment  of  a  principle  so 
momentous  and  a  doctrine  so  cardinal  the  one  central 
feature  of  the  bill,  the  revenue  feature,  should  be  so  faulty 
as  to  wring  a  confession  in  advance  that  it  was  a  failure. 

The  Wilson  Tariff  Bill  came  into  the  House  under  the 


HON.  ARTHUR  P.  GORMAN. 

Born  in  Howard  co.,  Md.,  March  11,  1839;  appointed  Senate  page, 
1852,  and  continued  in  service  till  1866 ;  served  as  Collector  of  Internal 
Revenue  for  Fifth  Maryland  District,  1866-69 ;  elected  as  Democrat  to 
Maryland  Legislature,  November,  1869.  Re-elected  1871,  and  became 
Speaker  of  House;  elected  to  State  Senate,  1875 ;  re-elected  in  1879; 
elected  to  United  Statijs  Senate,  1880;  re-elected,  1886  and  1892; 
prominent  exponent  of  Democratic  thought  and  recognized  leader; 
name  familiar  in  connection  with  the  presidency;  ability  as  an  organ- 
izer conceded  by  all;  member  of  Committees  on  Appropriations,  Com- 
merce, Inter-State  Commerce,  Printing,  etc. ;  a  director  of  Chesapeake 
and  Ohio  Canal  Company. 

(479) 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  481 

heading,  "A  bill  to  reduce  taxation,  provide  revenue  for  the 
government,  and  for  other  purposes."  It  was  ably  presented 
by  Mr.  Wilson  in  a  speech  which  indicated  close  prepara- 
tion and  full  familiarity  with  its  contents.  He  justified  the 
step  indicated  by  the  bill,  by  the  doctrine  that  protection 
was  opposed  to  the  instincts  of  a  free  and  prosperous  people, 
that  paternalism  had  proven  harmful  in  widening  the  gap 
between  labor  and  capital  and  in  favoring  classes  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  masses.  Passing  over  the  various  schedules 
of  the  bill,  he  explained  the  more  important  changes,  and 
concluded  by  asking  for  the  measure  that  support  which  his 
party  was  bound  to  give  if  it  expected  to  redeem  its  pledges 
to  the  people. 

Mr.  Wilson's  speech  opened  the  parliamentary  struggle. 
While  he  had  sounded  the  key-note  of  argument,  and  while 
it  was  felt  that  the  administration  was  heartily  at  the  back  of 
tte  bill,  it  became  early  apparent  that  it  contained  sources 
of  weakness  which  might  result  in  material  modifications 
and  make  its  passage  tardy.  It  was  not  such  a  bill  as 
pleased  the  out-and-out  free-traders.  It  alarmed  the  con- 
servative Democrats  whose  home  interests  were  touched. 
It  became  the  object  of  persistent  and  merciless  attack  by 
the  Republicans,  who  found  more  to  criticise  in  its  incon- 
sistencies than  in  its  general  aim.  As  was  facetiously  stated, 
it  was  a  bill  which  met  the  views  of  few  of  its  friends,  yet 
which  all  subscribed  to  under  the  plea  that  they  would  sup- 
port it  as  a  party  necessity  and  without  regard  to  its  intrinsic 
merits. 

The  question  of  its  passage,  therefore,  became  a  question 
of  holding  the  party  together,  of  keeping  up  a  quorum,  of 
forcing  issues  as  they  arose.  The  rules  of  the  House  had 
been  made  exceedingly  strong  for  this  purpose,  and  the  rul- 
ings of  the  Speaker  were  strenuous,  But  with  all  this  it  was 
23 


482  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL. 

difficult  to  make  the  headway  which  the  friends  of  the  bill 
required.  Interest  flagged  as  the  session  progressed,  and  it 
became  possible  on  the  part  of  the  opposition,  by  refusing 
to  help  the  majority  to  keep  up  their  quorum,  to  check  all 
progress.  This  brought  about  a  change  of  rules,  and  the 
adoption  of  that  principle  of  counting  a  quorum  which  the 
Democrats  had  so  bitterly  opposed  in  the  Fifty-first  Con- 
gress. 

Thus  fortified,  and  with  the  idea  dominant  that  the  bill 
was  a  party  necessity,  it  moved  more  rapidly  toward  its  pas- 
sage, and  with  few  opportunities  for  amendment,  though 
amendments  were  numerously  proposed.  The  heavy,  dan- 
gerous end  of  the  bill  was  that  which  contained  its  income 
tax  feature.  While  this  was  the  object  of  special  attack  by 
the  Republicans,  as  giving  to  the  bill  a  sectional  and  revenge- 
ful feature,  and  as  being  at  odds  with  all  ideas  of  justice  and 
a  discouragement  to  frugality,  it  encountered  even  more  ui- 
tense  hostility  within  the  lines  of  Democracy,  though  that 
hostility  was  rendered  innocent  by  the  fact  that,  obnoxious 
as  the  feature  was,  it  would  be  voted  for.  As  a  sample  of 
this  hostility,  and  because  the  language  is  bolder  than  that 
of  any  Republican  opponent,  we  quote  from  the  speech  of 
Hon.  T.  L.  Johnson,  of  Ohio  : 

"  As  a  measure  for  collecting  revenue  from  income  this  is 
a  very  poor  measure.  The  only  thing  about  it  that  is  not 
bad  is  that  it  is  not  a  bad  companion  to  the  tariff  bill  ema- 
nating from  the  same  committee.  It  is  marked  by  the  same 
want  of  clear  principle,  the  same  indecision,  and,  if  I  may 
use  the  word,  the  same  slouchiness. 

"  In  itself,  and  for  itself,  and  by  itself,  I  am  opposed  to  any 
income  tax.  I  am  opposed  to  any  income  tax,  because  all 
income  taxes,  even  the  best  of  them,  are  wrong  and  un- 
democratic in  principle,  because  they  involve  another  horde 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  483 

of  official  tax-eaters  and  require  inquisitorial  methods.  It 
is  better  to  tax  men  on  what  they  have  than  on  what  they 
need,  but  in  itself  it  is  wrong  to  tax  men  on  what  they  have. 
The  true  principle  is  to  tax  men,  not  on  what  they  have,  but 
on  what  they  have  that  belongs  to  all — to  tax  them,  not  in 
proportion  to  what  they  may  have  honestly  earned  or  saved, 
but  in  proportion  to  the  special  advantages  which  they  are 
suffered  to  enjoy.  There  is  an  enormous  difference,  a  dif- 
ference in  kind,  between  what  a  man  gets  by  his  own  exer- 
tions without  any  advantage  over  his  fellows,  and  what  a 
man  gets  by  reason  of  special  advantages  accorded  him  over 
his  fellows.  This  bill  and  all  similar  bills  make  no  such  dis- 
crimination. 

"  But  a  discrimination  is  made  in  this  bill — a  discrimina- 
tion as  to  the  amount  of  income.  The  whole  strength  of 
the  proposition  depends  on  that.  There  is  no  one  here  who 
would  venture  to  support  for  its  own  sake  a  bill  which  pro- 
posed to  tax  all  incomes,  or  even  all  incomes  above  so  small 
an  amount  as  to  bring  the  great  body  of  his  constituents 
under  its  provisions.  The  strength  of  this  bill  lies  in  its  ex- 
emption of  income  up  to  $4,000.  It  is  not  consistent  in 
this,  for  it  ruthlessly  taxes,  without  any  exemption,  the  little 
incomes  of  widows  or  orphans  or  aged  people  drawn  from 
corporate  stocks  or  bonds,  but  they  are  few  and  have  but 
little  political  power.  The  great  feature  of  the  exemption 
is  that  it  is  purposely  made  high  enough  to  exempt  the  great 
mass  of  voters.  It  is  an  attempt  of  the  many  to  tax  the 
few  ;  of  the  majority  to  impose  special  burdens  upon  the  mi- 
nority, and  that  without  any  claim  of  right,  without  any 
assumption  that  there  is  any  difference  save  amount  in  the 
incomes  that  are  to  be  taxed  and  the  incomes  that  are  to  be 
exempt. 

"  Mr,  Chairman,  this  is  not  Democracy ;  it  is  communism ! 


484  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL. 

I  am  willing  to  accept  communism  for  a  while,  as  a  relief 
from  protectionism,  which  is  a  one-sided  communism  plus 
cant ;  but  I  shall  not  shut  my  eyes  in  doing  so.  The  only 
clear  principle  in  this  bill  is  that  the  rich  should  be  taxed 
because  they  are  rich.  If  we  admit  this  principle  as  right  in 
itself,  where  shall  we  end  ?  Such  a  road  leads  on  to  the 
social  condition  of  those  semi-barbarous  countries  where  no 
one  dare  show  any  sign  of  the  possession  of  wealth  unless 
he  heavily  bribes  government  officials. 

"  I  protest  as  a  Democrat  and  as  a  Democrat  of  Demo- 
crats, a  single-tax  man,  against  any  discrimination  against 
the  rich,  as  I  have  protested  and  do  protest  and  will  protest 
against  any  discrimination  against  the  poor.  Democracy 
means  justice  or  it  means  nothing.  It  means  equal  rights 
to  all,  and  in  this  it  means  equal  obligations  on  all." 

After  a  little  less  than  two  months  of  discussion  in  the 
House  the  Wilson  Tariff  Bill  was  passed  (Feb.  I,  1894)  by 
a  large  and  almost  strictly  party  majority,  augmented  by  the 
Populist  strength.  The  vote  stood  204  for,  to  140  against, 
but  17  of  the  latter  being  Democrats.  The  dominant  forces 
had  been  kept  well  in  line,  considering  the  contrariety  of 
opinions,  and  the  passage  of  the  bill  was  heralded  as  an 
administration  triumph.  It  was  now  ready  for  its  second 
ordeal,  and  the  great  problem  was  how  it  would  fare  in  a 
body  of  conservative  tendencies,  and  where  there  was  a  very 
slim  majority  to  rely  upon.  In  the  Senate  it  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  Finance  Committee,  and  was  referred  to  a  Sub- 
Committee  composed  of  Senators  Mills,  of  Texas,  Jones,  of 
Arkansas,  and  Vest,  of  Missouri.  It  had  been  bitterly 
denounced  by  the  Republicans  in  the  House  as  the  boldest 
stride  toward  free-trade  made  since  the  celebrated  Walker 
bill  of  1846,  as  a  sectional  bill  framed  in  the  interests  of  the 
South  and  containing  a  cruel  blow  at  the  wealth  and  industry 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  485 

» 

of  the  North,  and  as  utterly  ruinous  to  American  prosperity. 
If  so,  it  was  surely  now  in  the  hands  of  cherished  friends. 
This  Sub-committee  was  unfortunately  composed  in  a  geo- 
graphic sense,  representing,  as  it  did  three  contiguous 
Southern  States,  none  of  which  had  large  commercial  or 
manufacturing  interests  at  stake.  But  no  doubt  it  had  been 
prudently  chosen  for  the  purpose  of  accomplishing  the  ob- 
ject in  view.  At  any  rate,  it  went  about  its  work  with 
apparent  earnestness  but  in  a  way  which  led  to  loud  public 
censure.  On  the  plea  that  to  open  its  doors  to  hearings 
would  lead  to  waste  of  time  and  to  indefinite  postponement 
of  conclusions,  it  refused  those  hearings  to  the  manufactur- 
ing interests  which  had  been  confidently  expected  and 
usually  granted.  True,  an  attempt  was  made  to  remedy 
this  defective  method  of  procedure  by  sending  out  circulars 
inviting  opinions  as  to  the  effect  of  changes  in  rates  of  duty, 
but  the  complaint  was  still  general  that  the  answers,  which 
could  not  be  satisfactorily  framed  in  this  way,  were  treated 
with  indifference  or  wholly  neglected. 

After  a  period  of  suspense,  which  was  intensified  by  the 
condition  of  the  country,  an  outline  of  such  bill  as  the 
Committee  had  agreed  upon  was  tentatively  reported.  It  at 
once  became  the  object  of  fierce  attack  by  the  Republicans 
in  the  Senate.  It  drew  one  or  two  tests  of  strength  from 
the  majority,  sufficient  to  show  that  it  would  be  dangerous 
to  push  it  further.  So,  while  the  measure  was  not  directly 
recalled  it  was  given  out  that  the  Committee  had  under 
advisement  a  more  complete  and  satisfactory  bill.  This  bill 
was  to  be  a  revelation  and  sensation.  It  was  no  longer  the 
Wilson  bill,  and  hardly  a  semblance  of  it,  being  transformed 
by  amendments  numbered  at  four  hundred. 

These  amendments  were  brought  about  in  a  way  which 
cannot  be  historically  explained.  So  far  as  Conservative 


486  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILt. 

• 

Democratic  Senators  were  concerned,  they  urged  the  im- 
portance of  such  concessions  as  would  insure  the  speedy 
passage  of  the  bill  and  give  relief  to  the  country.  These 
concessions  were  not  only  for  reasons  existing  within  the 
party,  but  for  the  purpose  of  modifying  the  ferocity  of  the 
Republican  attack.  Interests  which  had  been  denied  a 
hearing  were  now  considered  and  many  of  them  obtained 
concessions  which  were  of  great  value,  if  not  entirely  satis- 
factory. Several  articles  such  as  coal,  etc.,  which  had  been 
turned  over  to  the  free  list  were  turned  back  to  the  dutiable 
list,  every  such  change  being  a  departure  from  the  spirit  of 
the  original  bill  and  tending  to  make  it  more  confused  and 
anomalous  as  a  simple  revenue  measure.  The  situation  in 
the  Senate  got  to  be  like  that  in  the  House.  Every  friend 
of  the  bill  was  dissatisfied  with  it,  yet  willing  to  support  it 
for  the  sake  of  party. 

Thus  far  in  the  history  of  the  Wilson  Tariff  Bill  it  had 
escaped  the  taint  of  bargain  and  sale.  But  now  it  was  to 
prove  a  source  of  scandal.  The  charge  was  made  that 
representatives  of  the  Sugar  Trust,  including  Mr.  Haver- 
meyer,  the  President,  had  secretly  visited  members  of  the 
Senate  Finance  Committee,  and  had  had  interviews  with 
other  prominent  Senators,  the  result  of  which  was  a  modifi- 
cation of  the  sugar  schedule  in  the  interest  of  the  Trust,  by 
which  it  would  reap  great  profits,  estimated  as  high  as 
$30,000,000.  These  profits  were  to  be  realized  by  placing 
a  duty  on  sugar,  but  postponing  its  collection  till  Jan.  I, 
1895,  thus  giving  the  Trust  a  chance  to  stock  up  without 
duty,  but  at  the  same  time  to  advance  the  price  of  refined 
sugar  to  the  extent  of  the  duty.  The  charge  was  further 
made  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  had  personally 
written,  or  dictated,  a  change  in  the  sugar  schedule  in 
accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the  Trust.  The  charge  was 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  487 

further  made  that  the  Trust  demanded  and  obtained  this 
valuable  concession  in  pursuance  of  a  pre-existing  agree- 
ment with  the  leaders  of  the  Democratic  party  that  its 
interests  should  be  protected  for  the  consideration  of  a  gift 
for  campaign  purposes  in  1892,  estimated  at  $500,000.  It 
was  also  charged  that  information  respecting  the  work  of 
the  Finance  Committee  had  been  sent  out  secretly  to  New 
York  brokers,  and  that  Senators  had  taken  advantage  of  this 
leakage  to  speculate  in  Sugar  stocks. 

The  publication  of  these  charges  created  quite  a  sensa- 
tion, dragged  the  high  character  of  the  Senate  in  the  mire, 
and  cast  a  taint  on  tariff  legislation.  The  newspaper  men, 
who  had  made  the  exposure,  were  called  before  a  Senate 
Investigating  Committee,  and  on  refusing  to  give  the  names 
of  their  informants,  were  turned  over  to  the  criminal  Courts 
to  be  tried  for  contumacy.  The  Sugar  magnates  were 
called,  who  verified  the  charge  that  they  had  given  money, 
but  to  State,  and  not  to  National  campaigns,  in  amounts 
they  could  not  remember.  They  testified  that  such  gifts 
were  a  matter  of  business  with  them  and  that  they  expected 
corresponding  benefits.  Other  witnesses  testified  in  a  mod- 
ified way,  and  some  with  very  proper  and  natural  excuses, 
to  the  truth  of  what  had  been  charged,  while  even  Sena- 
tors, when  called,  did  not  in  every  instance  place  themselves 
beyond  the  suspicion  that  they  had  taken  advantage  of  the 
situation  to  turn  a  penny  in  sugar-stock  speculations. 

These  revelations  were  a  terrible  blow  to  national  pride 
and  every  sense  of  honor  and  honesty ;  but  they  did  not 
serve  to  loosen  the  grip  which  the  Trust  had  on  the  Senate. 
They  served  rather  to  explain,  what  had  before  been  a 
rumor,  that  the  position  of  the  Trust  was  so  strong  that  the 
fate  of  the  entire  tariff  bill  depended  on  its  getting  the  pro- 
tection it  wanted.  They  also  served  to  explain  the  indirfer- 


488  THE  WILSON  TARIFF 

ence  of  the  Trust  to  the  Sugar  schedule  when  the  bill  was 
in  the  House,  at  which  time  it  was  given  out  that  the  Trust 
depended  on  the  Senate  for  such  protection  as  it  desired. 
Moreover  they  intensified  the  opposition  to  the  bill  in  gen- 
eral, for  the  taint,  like  mildew,  spread  to  other  parts  of  it, 
especially  to  the  internal  revenue  clauses  relating  to  the 
taxes  on  whiskey  and  beer. 

This  favoritism  of  a  gigantic  Trust  was  made  all  the 
more  inexplicable  by  that  clause  in  the  Democratic 
National  platform  of  1892,  which  reads,  "We  recognize  in 
the  Trusts  and  Combinations  which  are  designed  to  enable 
capital  to  secure  more  than  its  just  share  of  the  joint  pro- 
duct of  capital  and  labor  a  natural  consequence  of  the  pro- 
hibitive taxes  which  prevent  the  free  competition  which  is 
the  life  of  honest  trade,  but  believe  their  worst  evils  can'  be 
abated  by  law,  and  we  demand  the  rigid  enforcement  of  the 
laws  made  to  prevent  and  control  them,  together  with  such 
further  legislation  in  restraint  of  these  abuses  as  experience 
may  show  to  be  necessary." 

Debate  went  on  for  months  with  more  or  less  acrimony, 
very  often  with  great  ability,  and  with  gradual  modifications 
of  the  bill  in  the  shape  of  increased  duties  and  added  in- 
consistencies. As  time  passed  the  desire  became  stronger 
to  pass  it  and  get  it  back  to  the  House,  where  its  fate  was 
felt  to  be  in  doubt,  but  where  the  hope  centered  that  agree- 
ment upon  it  could  be  had  through  the  medium  of  a  Com- 
mittee of  Conference  representing  both  Houses. 

When  the  Income  tax  portion  was  reached  in  the  Senate 
it  precipitated  the  strongest  of  debates  and  as  had  been  the 
case  in  the  House,  the  bitterest  opponents  of  the  tax  were 
Democrats  themselves.  The  speeches  of  Senators  Hill,  of 
New  York,  and  Smith,  of  New  Jersey,  were  remarkable  for 
their  vigor  and  ability.  The  ground  taken  by  Mr.  Hill  was 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILt.  489 

not  only  economically  important,  but  showed  the  great  dan- 
ger to  the  party  likely  to  spring  out  of  this  kind  of  legisla- 
tion. In  one  of  his  ablest  and  most  earnest  speeches  he 
said : — 

"  We  have  now  reached  the  consideration  of  one  of  the 
most  important  features  of  the  pending  measure.  Impor- 
tant not  only  because  the  tax  which  it  seeks  to  impose 
equals  in  the  aggregate  about  one-fifteenth  of  the  whole 
Federal  taxation  of  the  United  States,  but  because  of  the 
peculiar  nature  of  the  burden,  as  well  as  the  vast  and  varied 
interests  which  it  injuriously  affects.  With  all  due  respect 
to  what  has  been  said  in  favor  of  this  tax  by  distinguished 
Senators,  it  is  confidently  submitted  to  the  Senate  that  the 
arguments  presented  in  opposition  to  the  necessity,  justice 
and  advisability  of  any  such  tax  have  never  been  success- 
fully answered.  The  arguments  have  been  evaded,  but  not 
refuted. 

"  In  the  first  place,  considered  from  the  mere  standpoint 
of  political  expediency,  it  was  unwise  to  incorporate  an  in- 
come tax  in  a  reform  bill.  There  were  honest  differences 
enough  already  existing  among  party  friends  relating  to  the 
details  of  legitimate  tariff  legislation  which  necessarily  had 
to  be  reconciled  without  going  out  of  our  way  to  seek  fresh 
causes  of  contention  in  an  effort  to  incorporate  this  tax,  an 
experimental  scheme  of  taxation  at  best,  upon  a  measure 
for  the  revision  of  the  tariff.  The  Democratic  party  was 
substantially  united  in  favor  of  tariff  revision,  but  it  is  well 
known  that  irreconcilable  differences  of  opinion  existed  con- 
cerning the  propriety  of  restoring  a  war  tax  in  time  of 
peace,  and  yet  in  spite  of  suph  recognized  differences  and  in 
the  face  of  the  protests  of  Democratic  constituencies  and 
against  the  advice  of  public  men  who  have  never  faltered  in 
their  devotion  to  true  Democratic  principles,  this  income 


490  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL. 

tax  feature  has  been  engrafted  upon  this  measure  and  we  are 
persistently  asked  to  accept  it  against  our  better  judgment 
as  a  condition  of  obtaining  any  tariff  legislation. 

"  It  would  have  been  good  politics  to  have  avoided  this 
unnecessary  issue.  Prudence  dictated  that  this  Congress 
should  not  attempt  to  formulate  new  Democratic  doctrines 
to  which  we  have  never  been  committed.  Rather  should  it 
carry  out  the  pledges  that  we  have  already  made.  Perhaps 
I  over-estimate  the  importance  of  party  platforms  and  ap- 
preciate too  keenly  the  binding  obligations  of  party  pledges. 
I  believe  it  is  the  solemn  duty  of  a  political  party  to  redeem 
the  promises  upon  which  it  obtained  power  and  that  repu- 
diation thereof  will  sooner  or  later  bring  disaster  upon  it  at 
the  hands  of  a  betrayed  and  indignant  people. 

"  We  have  recently  seen  a  Democratic  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives refuse  to  repeal  a  Federal  tax  upon  State  bank 
circulation,  such  repeal  having  been  expressly  favored  in  our 
national  platform,  while  the  same  House  went  out  of  the 
way  to  inject  a  Populistic  income  tax  into  a  Democratic 
Tariff  bill  and  the  Senate  is  now  asked  to  ratify  a  portion  of 
such  inconsistent  action.  For  one,  I  protest  against  the 
repudiation  of  the  promises  of  the  Democratic  party  in 
order  to  adopt  and  carry  out  the  promises  of  the  Populist 
party." 

Senator  Hill  said  that  it  was  also  imprudent  and  unjust 
to  engraft  the  income  tax  provision  on  the  Tariff  bill 
because  it  was  a  well-known  principle  of  legislation  to  keep 
revenue  and  appropriation  bills  free  from  experimental  and 
extraordinary  legislation.  The  provision  was  a  fulfilment 
of  no  Democratic  doctrine  or  promise.  If  considered  at  all 
it  should  have  been  introduced  and  acted  upon  as  a  separate 
measure.  "  I  am  tempted  to  suggest,"  continued  Mr.  Hill, 
"  that  the  Democrats  of  Oregon  recently  sought  to  test  the 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  4$1 

popularity  of  an  income  tax  among  the  business  men  and 
electors  of  that  State  by  inserting  in  their  platform  a  clause 
favoring  that  tax ;  and  awaking  to  their  sense  after  the  elec- 
tion they  discovered  that  their  ticket  was  third  in  the  race ; 
that  their  party  was  demoralized  and  that  they  had  divided 
themselves  instead  of  dividing  their  opponents.  The  most 
disastrous  defeat  ever  experienced  by  the  Democratic 
party  in  Oregon  was  the  result  of  the  effort  to  substitute 
new-fangled  Populistic  principles  for  the  good  old  principles 
of  true  Democracy.  Here  and  now  I  venture  the  predic- 
tion that  the  same  result  will  follow  the  same  effort  every- 
where." 

In  answer  to  the  argument  that  England  had  long  main- 
tained an  income  tax  and  consequently  it  would  be  a  wise 
policy  in  this  country.  Mr.  Hill  ridiculed  the  idea  that  the 
United  States  should  copy  its  legislation  from  a  country 
whose  form  of  government,  natural  surroundings  and  obliga- 
tions were  essentially  different.  He  maintained  also  that 
England  tolerated  rather  than  approved  the  income  tax  and 
that  frauds  and  perjuries  under  that  law  were  frequent. 

"  The  advocates  of  an  income  tax,"  said  Mr.  Hill,  "  fail 
to  appreciate  the  important  and  controlling  fact  that  Tariff 
or  Federal  taxation  is  not  the  only  taxation  in  this  country. 
In  addition  to  Federal  taxation  there  exists  State,  county 
and  municipal  taxation  to  which  every  man  of  property  is 
more  or  less  subjected,  and  that  such  State,  county  and  mu- 
nicipal taxation  combined  exceeds  in  amount  the  whole 
Tariff  taxation  of  the  general  government  by  over 
$260,000,000. 

"  We  have  no  right  to  shut  our  eyes  to  these  facts.  In 
framing  a  system  of  Federal  taxation,  which  shall  justly 
and  equitably  reach  the  citizens  and  property  in  the  respect- 
ive States  of  the  Union,  it  becomes  our  first  duty  to  inquire 


492  THE  WILSON  TARIFF 

as  to  what  general  system  of  local  taxation  exists  in  the 
States.  Is  there  a  tax  upon  consumption  there,  or  a  tax 
upon  property?  These  are  most  pertinent  questions  to 
which  we  should  carefully  address  ourselves.  In  the  first 
place,  we  should  seek  to  avoid  duplication  of  taxation.  The 
general  system  of  taxation  among  the  States  is  a  direct  and 
ad  valorem  tax  on  real  and  personal  property.  In  addition 
to  these  some  States  have  taxes  on  corporations,  incomes, 
etc.  Some  other  system  should  be  used  by  the  Federal 
Government.  What  other  is  left?  The  Constitution  an- 
swers the  question.  Congress  is  expressly  given  the  power 
to  impose  an  indirect  tax  in  the  form  of  revenue  tariff 
duties,  and  this  power  is  expressly  prohibited  to  the  States. 

"  This  is  essentially  a  war  tax.  Heretofore  we,  as  Demo- 
crats, have  clamored  against  it  and  others  like  it.  Look  at 
the  spectacle  which  we  now  present.  If  this  is  true  Democ- 
racy, I  want  none  of  it.  If  this  is  the  best  leadership 
which  we  can  present  in  this  great  crisis,  I,  for  one,  must 
decline  to  follow.  I  prefer  to  stand  with  Jefferson  and  Jack- 
son and  Tilden  in  opposition  to  all  income  taxes  and  direct 
Federal  taxation,  but  in  favor  of  a  revenue  for  Federal  pur- 
poses and  direct  taxation  for  State  purposes. 

"  I  repudiate  the  spurious  Democracy  of  these  modern 
apostles  and  prophets,  who  are  part  Mugwump,  part  Popu- 
list, and  the  least  part  Democratic,  who  seek  to  lead  us 
astray  after  false  gods,  false  theories  and  false  methods.  I 
object  to  our  restoring  a  war  tax  which  the  Republicans 
themselves  rejected  years  ago  with  our  approbation.  I 
protest  against  that  lack  of  foresight  and  judgment  upon 
the  part  of  some  professed  Democrats  who  always  seem 
anxious  to  adopt  whatever  the  Republicans  and  people  have 
repudiated. 

"  Mr.  President,  I  cannot  follow  such  leadership,  which 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BIU,.  493 

shifts  and  turns  and  temporizes  upon  every  public  question ; 
which  compromises  every  well  established  Democratic 
principle  for  which  the  party  contended  when  out  of  power ; 
which  stands  ready  to  adopt  every  passing  '  ism '  of  the 
hour ;  which  surrenders  principle  for  expediency,  and  pur- 
sues no  consistent  course  from  one  year  to  another.  If 
political  success  of  my  party  is  only  to  be  purchased  by 
such  methods  and  such  sacrifices,  I  prefer  defeat  and  the 
preservation  of  my  self-respect. 

"  Mr.  President,  the  national  victory  of  1892  meant  a  re- 
duction of  the  tariff;  it  did  not  mean  an  income  tax.  It  did 
not  mean  an  invasion  of  State  rights,  a  usurpation  of  State 
privileges,  nor  the  abrogation  of  State  sources  of  taxation. 
It  did  not  mean  direct  taxation  on  the  part  of  the  general 
Government.  It  meant  a  tariff  for  revenue — a  reasonable 
reduction  in  tariff  duties,  the  substitution  of  revenue  duties 
for  prohibitory  duties  wherever  the  latter  existed,  the  plac- 
ing of  raw  materials  upon  the  free  list,  and  the  restriction 
of  the  revenues  to  be  raised  to  the  actual  necessities  of  the 
Government.  This  was  the  policy  to  which  the  party  was 
solemnly  committed." 

After  speaking  of  the  indebtedness  of  the  Southern 
States,  and  the  desire  of  the  Senators  therefrom  to  fasten 
this  burdensome  tax  on  the  North,  Mr.  Hill  said : 

"  They  have  taken  pains  to  fix  the  exemption  high 
enough  so  that  their  States  will  be  compelled  to  contribute 
little  or  nothing.  It  is  the  great  Democratic  State  of  New 
York  which  they  are  after.  Is  the  State  to  be  punished  ? 
Its  chief  city — which  has  always  been  the  target  for  every 
Republican  attack — is  now  to  be  raided  by  its  own  party 
friends  in  Congress.  The  State  which  has  ever  been  friendly 
to  the  South  and  its  people,  which  has  ever  defended  their 
Constitutional  rights  and  prerogatives,  the  State  which  has 


494  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL. 

always  opposed  force  bills,  carpet-bag  governments,  Fed- 
eral elections  laws,  arbitrary  arrests  and  Federal  interfer- 
ences in  State  affairs ;  the  State  which  is  one  of  the  only 
three  Northern  States  which  have  a  full  Democratic  repre- 
sentation in  this  Senate  and  thereby  gave  the  Democratic 
party  its  control  here. 

"  This  is  a  tax,  the  imposition  of  which  will  drive  New 
York,  New  Jersey  and  Connecticut  into  the  Republican 
column,  there  to  permanently  remain;  a  tax — the  individual 
feature  of  which  has  not  been  recommended  by  any  Demo- 
cratic President,  or  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  or  Commis- 
sioner of  Internal  Revenue,  but  a  tax  suggested,  advocated, 
and  now  persistently  pushed  by  a  majority  which  is  tem- 
porarily '  in  the  saddle '  in  this  Congress,  and  is  driving  the 
Democratic  party  with  reckless  and  headlong  speed  into 
the  abyss  of  political  ruin. 

"  I  respect  what  is  called  public  sentiment  when  it  is  right, 
but  I  detest  and  defy  it  when  it  is  wrong,  unreasonable  and 
arrogant.  It  should  never  be  allowed  to  swerve  us  from 
our  sense  of  official  duty.  We  should  not  mistake  a  healthy 
and  an  honest  public  sentiment  for  a  mere  clamor,  an  out- 
burst of  passion,  or  a  freak  of  prejudice. 

"  This  is  no  time  to  yield  honest  convictions  in  order  to 
make  dangerous  experiments  in  revenue  legislation,  in  the 
vain  effort  to  satisfy  a  discontented  class  who  always  want 
a  grievance  and  who  will  clamor  against  your  government 
and  your  administration  and  against  property  and  against 
riches  just  as  loudly  and  persistently  after  this  sop  shall 
have  been  thrown  to  them  as  before.  In  their  mad  haste 
to  attack  the  rich,  the  champions  of  the  income  tax  either 
intentionally  or  inadvertently  assail  the  poor." 

In  his  speech  upon  the  same  subject,  Mr.  Sherman,  of 
Ohio,  said  he  did  not  deny  on  general  principles  the  equality 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  495 

and  justice  of  making  the  rich  bear  their  just  burden  of 
taxation.  But  to  the  States  belongs  the  right  to  tax  incomes 
of  individuals  only  as  a  last  resort.  No  such  dire  necessity 
existed  to-day.  The  Government  had  ample  sources  of 
revenue  without  resorting  to  an  income  tax  and  invading 
the  States'  realm  of  taxation.  There  was  in  the  income  tax 
a  touch  of  the  worst  and  most  vicious  form  of  socialism, 
said  Mr.  Sherman.  In  this  country  where  all  men  are 
equal  this  tendency  toward  socialism,  this  arraying  of  the 
poor  against  the  rich  should  be  discouraged  by  public  men 
rather  than  pandered  to. 

With  respect  to  all  this  talk  of  the  enormous  accumula- 
tions of  wealth  within  recent  years,  he  said  he  did  not 
believe  there  had  been  any  accumulation  of  wealth  within 
the  last  five  years.  He  sketched  the  enormous  growth  of 
wealth  that  had  followed  the  building  of  railroads  and  the 
development  of  the  country's  resources.  But  now  railroad 
property  was  becoming  like  turnpike  and  bridge  property. 
Railroads  were  practically  operated  now  only  for  the  people. 
Scarcely  any  railroad  stocks  were  valuable ;  railroad  fortunes 
were  disappearing  like  snow  before  the  summer  sun.  Tiie 
railroad  lines  of  the  country  could  be  duplicated  for  one- 
third  of  their  cost ;  for  one-fifth  of  their  paper  (bond  and 
stock)  values. 

"  The  great  devilish  invention  of  the  age,"  Mr.  Sherman 
said,  "  devilish  in  all  its  ends  and  aims  as  far  as  the  people 
were  concerned  was  the  trust.  A  few  men  were  banding 
themselves  together  here  and  there  to  control  production  in 
some  particular  line  of  industry.  They  crushed  opposition 
and  absolutely  controlled  prices,  making  themselves  multi- 
millionaires. Take  the  Sugar  Trust.  The  controllers  of 
that  organization  with  an  actual  investment  of  $9,000,000 
watered  to  $75,000,000  had  been  able  to  pay  even  on  this 


496  THE  WILSON  TARIFF 

immense  watered  stock  annual  dividends  of  from  6  to  12 
per  cent,  per  annum.  Every  dollar  had  been  taken  from 
the  pockets  of  the  people.  If  the  Senators  in  charge  of 
this  bill  desired  to  aim  a  blow  at  the  aggregation  of  wealth, 
let  them  strike  at  these  unholy  trusts  and  combinations." 

The  following  is  a  summary  of  the  main  arguments 
against  the  income  tax  used  during  the  debates : — 

(i)  An  income  tax  had  no  legitimate  place  in  a  tariff 
reform  bill  and  embarrassed  those  who  desired  to  support 
a  tariff  reform  measure,  but  who  could  not  conscientiously 
support  an  income  tax.  (2)  An  income  tax  was  neither 
Democratic  or  Republican  in  principle ;  it  had  never  been 
approved  by  the  public ;  it  was  a  doctrine  of  Populism,  and 
it  was  the  votes  of  the  Senators  of  that  party  by  which  it 
was  expected  to  attach  it  to  this  bill.  (3)  It  was  unneces- 
sary, as  the  debate  had  shown  that  sufficient  revenue  would 
be  raised  without  it.  (4)  It  was  a  direct  tax  and  therefore 
unconstitutional.  (5)  It  was  unequal,  unjust  and  sectional 
in  its  operation,  being  urged  by  those  States  least  affected, 
a  tax  on  the  thrift  and  energy  of  the  North  rather  than  on 
accumulated  wealth.  (6)  It  revived  an  odious  war  tax.  (7) 
Its  exemptions  stamped  it  as  an  offensive  piece  of  class 
legislation,  either  all  incomes  should  be  taxed  or  none.  (8) 
The  exemption  unjustly  discriminated,  it  exempted  $635,000- 
ooo  of  United  States  bonds,  but  taxed  State  bonds,  it  ex- 
empted the  incomes  of  individuals  when  less  than  $4,000, 
and  denied  the  same  exemption  where  the  incomes  came 
from  corporate  investments.  (9)  It  was  retroactive.  (10) 
It  usurped  a  field  of  taxation  rightfully  belonging  to  the 
States,  (n)  It  was  inquisitorial  and  offensive.  (12)  It 
violated  the  Constitution  in  taxing  the  incomes  of  corpo- 
rations whose  revenues  went  partly  to  the  support  of  the 
States.  (13)  It  would  lead  to  a  conflict  between  State  and( 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL,.  497 

national  authority.  (14)  It  would  lead  to  an  increase  of  the 
direct  taxation  of  the  States.  (15)  It  creates  a  class,  it 
selects  a  special  class  for  Federal  taxation.  It  is  the 
first  step  toward  creating  a  moneyed  aristocracy,  which, 
under  the  guise  of  aiding  in  its  support,  will  destroy  it. 

The  Populist  Senators  were  persistent  and  aggressive  in 
their  support  of  the  income  tax  clause.  They  believed  and 
asserted  that  the  tax  was  favored  by  the  great  masses  of 
the  people,  and  that  it  was  one  of  the  few  items  in  the  bill 
about  whose  justice  and  propriety  there  was  no  division 
of  opinion  among  the  adherents  of  the  two  great  political 
parties.  They  averred  that  the  laboring  classes  and  those 
with  moderate  incomes  were  firmly  convinced  that  the  rich 
did  not  bear  their  share  of  the  taxes,  and  that  the  brunt  of 
meeting  the  expenses  of  the  national  and  local  governments 
fell  on  the  citizens  who  were  least  able  to  pay.  They  argued 
that  officials  who  had  to  do  with  the  public  moneys  raised 
from  taxes  were  corrupt,  and  that  this  gave  to  the  wealthy 
man  an  advantage  over  the  poor  man  by  enabling  him, 
through  use  of  his  money,  to  secure  lower  assessments  and 
other  favors. 

They  used,  with  every  confidence  as  to  their  accuracy, 
and  with  all  the  persuasiveness  possible,  a  set  of  figures, 
showing  that  seventy  citizens  of  the  United  States  owned 
an  aggregate  wealth  of  $2,700,000,000,  or  an  average  of 
$37,000,000  apiece;  that  one  estate  was  valued  $150,- 
000,000;  five  were  valffed  $100,000,000  each;  and  others  at 
various  sums  running  from  $70,000,000  down  to  $2O,OOO,OOO. 
These  figures  they  compared  with  those  of  Great  Britain 
where  Baron  Rothschild  left  an  estate  of  only  $17,500,000, 
Lord  Dudley  one  of  only  $20,000,000,  and  the  Duke  of 

Buccleuch,  the  richest  man  in  Scotland,  one  of  only  $30,- 
24 


498  THE  WILSON  TARIFF 

000,000;  there  being  in  the  entire  United  Kingdom  but 
104  estates  whose  business  profits  exceeded  $250,000  a 
year. 

As  the  summer  of  1894  wore  on,  and  there  was  a  pros- 
pect of  the  passage  of  the  Wilson  Bill  in  the  Senate,  all 
parties  interested  became  anxious  to  know  how  it  would  be 
received  on  its  return  to  the  House.  There  was  much 
probing  of  sentiment  to  ascertain  this,  and  it  must  be  con- 
fessed that  at  first  the  feeling  was  decidedly  adverse,  and 
that  many  disciplinary  lessons  would  be  required  in  order 
to  win  support  for  it.  Mr.  Tarsney,  of  Missouri,  one  of  the 
Democratic  members  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee, 
when  asked  what  would  be  the  result  of  a  conference  on 
the  Sugar  question,  said :  "  That  is  more  than  I  can  tell. 
Our  committee  (Ways  and  Means  Committee)  has  not  had 
any  consultation  on  the  subject,  and  I  do  not  know  what 
will  be  the  outcome.  One  thing  is  certain,  however,  and 
that  is  that  there  is  a  very  much  larger  majority  in  the 
House  in  favor  of  free  sugar,  both  raw  and  refined,  than 
there  was  when  the  vote  in  the  House  was  Jiaken  on  the 
subject.  Then  you  will  remember  there  were  nearly  three 
to  one  in  favor  of  free  sugar. 

"  The  scandalous  disclosures  made  on  this  subject  by  the 
Senate  Investigating  Committee  will  certainly  strengthen 
the  feeling  in  the  House  in  favor  of  free  sugar.  But  at  the 
same  time  our  object  is  to  pass  a  tariff  bill.  If  we  cannot 
get  a  bill  through  the  Senate  without  conceding  the 
demands  of  the  Sugar  Trust,  then  that  will  have  to  be 
taken  into  consideration  in  agreeing  on  a  report  in  Con- 
ference Committee." 

Mr.  Bryan,  another  member  of  the  House  Committee  on 
Ways  and  Means,  said  that  he  was  opposed  to  granting 
anything  to  the  Sugar  Trust,  but  if  it  were  necessary  to  adopt 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  499 

the  Senate  sugar  schedule  to  get  the  bill  to  the  President, 
then  he  should  vote  for  that  schedule. 

Representative  Hall,  of  Missouri,  another  Democrat, 
speaking  on  this  subject,  said  : — 

"  I  am  unalterably  opposed  to  granting  the  demands  of  the 
Sugar  Trust.  That  rapacious  monopoly  evidently  thinks 
that  it  has  bought  the  influence  of  the  leading  men  in  each 
party  without  the  knowledge  of  the  leading  men  in  the 
other  party.  Mr.  Havemeyer's  testimony  before  the  Senate 
Committee  was  the  most  outrageous  statement  that  I  ever 
read,  coming  from  the  head  of  a  great  corporation.  He 
confessed  that  the  price  of  sugar  is  fixed  in  New  York,  and 
that  the  Trust  has  put  money  into  politics  where  it  will  do 
the  Trust  most  good.  I  think  the  newspaper  charges  were 
justified,  and  I  shall  certainly  oppose  to  the  utmost  extent 
of  my  ability  any  concession  to  this  outrageous  and  in- 
famous monopoly." 

Representative  Baily,  of  Texas,  said  : — 

"After  the  revelations  before  the  Senate  Committee,  I,  for 
one,  am  ready  to  stay  here  until  November  to  defeat  that 
sugar  schedule.  No  party  can  stand  under  the  load  of  that 
concession  to  the  Sugar  Trust.  Mr.  Havemeyer's  testimony 
gives  ugly  verification  of  the  charge  of  undue  influence  on 
the  part  of  the  Sugar  Trust  in  politics.  I  can  hardly  believe 
that  the  House  will  ever  consent  to  pass  a  bill  that  contains 
that  Sugar  Trust  schedule." 

Mr.  Dockery,  of  Missouri,  said  : — 

"  The  House  is  overwhelmingly  opposed  to  either  tax  or 
bounty  on  sugar.  It  was  so  when  the  bill  passed  the  House 
and  it  is  so  now.  If  anything,  the  feeling  is  stronger  for 
free  sugar  now  than  it  was  then.  There  is  the  voting 
strength,  therefore,  to  non-concur  at  the  outset  in  the  Senate 
sugar  amendments,  and  to  keep  non-concurring  as  often  as 


Soo  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BIIJ;. 

the  Conferrees  report  failure  to  reach  an  agreement.  With 
this  overwhelming  sentiment  and  voting  strength  for  free 
sugar,  it  would  seem  to  assure  a  very  determined  stand  on 
the  part  of  the  House." 

Said  Mr.  Warner,  of  New  York  : — 

"  I  believe  in  remaining  right  here  at  our  desks  until  the 
fourth  of  next  March  rather  than  surrender  to  the  Senate 
sugar  schedule.  I  think,  moreover,  that  the  House  is 
certain  to  make  a  resistance  which  will  compel  the  Senate 
to  yield.  It  will  be  hot  weather  in  Washington,  and  a  pro- 
tracted struggle  will  bring  many  discomforts,  but  it  will  not 
be  half  as  hot  for  Congressmen  here  as  it  will  be  for  them 
in  their  districts  if  there  is  a  tax  on  sugar.  Our  constituents 
and  our  editors  are  for  free  sugar,  so  that  members  can  be 
serving  their  districts  best  by  remaining  here  until  the 
Senate  is  forced  to  yield. 

"  The  Senate  schedule  gives  protection  as  well  as  a  revenue 
duty  to  the  refiners.  The  House  will  never  accept  anything 
of  that  sort.  It  will  have  either  free  sugar  or  else  sugar 
that  is  at  least  free  of  protection  to  the  refiners." 

Representative  Hatch,  of  Missouri,  said  : — 

"  My  judgment  is  that  the  House  ought  to  emphasize  its 
position  on  sugar.  And  yet  I  believe  any  bill  which  comes 
out  of  the  Conference  Committee  will  be  so  far  ahead  of  the 
McKinley  Bill  that  I  will  be  ready  to  surrender  my  views 
on  one,  two  or  three  articles  in  order  to  secure  a  bill.  It  is 
a  bill  we  want,  a  bill." 

These  extracts  show  that  the  members  of  the  House  who 
had  favored  the  passage  of  the  Wilson  Bill  had  not  abated 
any  of  their  hostility  toward  the  doctrine  of  protection  in 
general,  and,  moreover,  that  they  fully  understand  the  atti- 
tude the  Sugar  Trust  had  assumed  in  legislation ;  that  is, 
to  make  the  ultimate  passage  of  the  bill  depend  on  the 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  501 

presence  of  the  rates  of  duty  they  wished  to  incorporate  in 
it.  With  the  Trust  it  was  seemingly  the  Senate  legislation 
or  no  legislation.  With  the  party  in  power  it  was  seemingly 
a  tariff  bill,  no  matter  how  incongruous  nor  what  its  features, 
or  a  confession  to  the  country  of  inability  to  legislate,  which 
meant  violation  of  all  its  promises  and  pledges,  and  ultimate 
ruin. 

The  dilemma  was  one  soon  to  be  solved  by  the  passage 
of  the  bill  in  the  Senate,  on  July  3d,  by  a  vote  of  39  yeas  to 
34  nays,  the  Populists  voting  with  the  Democrats  in  the 
affirmative,  and  Senator  Hill,  of  New  York,  voting  with  the 
Republicans  in  the  negative. 

The  bill,  with  its  very  numerous  amendments  and  its 
countless  transformations,  now  went  back  to  the  House. 
The  understanding  already  existed  that  debate  upon  it  was 
not  to  be  opened  there,  but  that  it  would  be  referred  to  a 
Committee  of  Conference.  The  Senate  seemingly  antici- 
pated disagreement  on  the  part  of  the  House  by  being  in 
the  field  first  with  Conferrees,  composed  of  four  Democratic 
and  three  Republican  members  of  the  Finance  Committee, 
three  of  the  four  Democrats  being  from  the  Southern  States. 
On  July  /th  a  motion  of  non-concurrence  in  the  Senate 
bill,  which  by  reason  of  its  metamorphosis  had  come  to  be 
designated  as  the  Gorman-Brice  Bill,  was  carried,  and  on 
motion  involved  the  question  of  reference  to  a  Committee 
of  Conference  in  accordance  with  the  request  of  the  Senate. 
The  Speaker  appointed  as  the  seven  Conferrees,  on  the  part 
of  the  House,  four  Democratic  and  three  Republican  mem- 
bers of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  to  wit :  Wilson, 
W.  Va. ;  McMillan,  Tenn. ;  Turner,  Ga. ;  Montgomery,  Ky. ; 
Reed,  Me.;  Burrows,  Mich.;  and  Payne,  N.  Y.  An  effort 
was  made  in  the  House  to  instruct  its  Conferrees  to  make  a 
separate  report  on  the  sugar  schedule,  but  it  failed. 


502  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL. 

In  his  speech  upon  the  motion  to  non-concur,  Mr.  Wil- 
son said  the  Senate  bill  came  back  to  the  House  with  some 
634  amendments.  "  Whatever  may  have  been  its  imperfec- 
tions when  it  left  the  House,  it  was  based  on  two  clear  and 
intelligent  principles :  (i)  that  in  gathering  revenue  taxes 
under  a  tariff,  those  taxes  should  be  levied  on  finished  pro- 
ducts and  not  on  what  is  called  raw  material ;  (2)  there  can 
be  no  just  and  equitable  system  of  taxation  except  when 
based  on  the  value  of  the  thing  taxed."  Continuing,  he 
said  that  the  bill,  as  it  came  from  the  Senate,  did  not  repre- 
sent the  first  of  these  principles,  because  it  transferred  to 
the  tax  list  quite  a  number  of  articles  which  the  House 
desired  to  give  free  to  the  working  people  of  the  country. 
Only  wool  and  lumber  came  back  undisturbed  by  the  Sen- 
ate. As  to  the  second  of  these  principles,  the  House  had 
fixed  the  duties  at  ad  valorem  rates,  but  the  Senate  had 
changed  them  to  specific  and  compound  rates.  He  asked 
the  Conferrees  on  the  part  of  the  House  to  go  into  the 
Conference  with  the  spirit  of  fair  and  honest  dealing  with 
Senate  amendments,  yet  at  the  same  time  with  fidelity  to 
party  pledges,  to  the  trust  of  the  people  who  sent  them  as 
their  representatives. 

The  Democratic  members  of  the  Conference  Committee 
took  the  bill  in  hand,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Republicans, 
for  the  purpose,  as  alleged,  of  first  going  over  it  to  see 
wherein  agreement  could  be  speedily  had.  There  was 
much  friction  as  to  the  departure  of  the  Senate  from  the 
principle  of  ad  valorem  duties,  but  in  this  contention  the 
Senate  was  the  stronger,  for  it  was  supported  by  the  fact 
that  nearly  every  civilized  government  in  the  world  had 
adopted  the  principle  of  specific  rates.  But,  aside  from  this 
question  of  a  general  principle,  the  committee  found 
grounds  for  agreement  in  many  of  the  schedules,  and  the 


503 

work  progressed  slowly  but  satisfactorily  for  a  time.  Soon, 
however,  it  became  manifest  that  a  serious  hitch  was  to 
occur  over  the  sugar  schedule,  and  the  articles  of  coal  and 
iron  ore,  all  of  which  were  free  in  the  House  bill,  as  a 
matter  of  party  pledge  and  economic  principles,  but  which 
had  been  made  dutiable  in  the  Senate  bill,  on  the  plea  that 
thus  only  could  its  passage  be  secured  in  that  body,  yet 
under  the  general  charge  of  the  Republicans,  and  of  the 
ablest  representatives  of  the  Democratic  press,  that  the 
change  had  been  made  in  pursuance  of  campaign  agree- 
ments to  protect  the  Sugar  Trust. 

The  bill  had  now  reached  one  of  the  most  critical  points 
in  its  history,  and  the  developments  which  marked  its  pro- 
gress from  this  time  on  were  the  most  interesting  in  con- 
nection with  economic  legislation,  even  if  they  did  not  indi- 
cate a  permanent  schism  of  the  dominant  party.  What 
startled  most  the  moral  sense  of  the  people  was  the  fact 
that  the  criminations  and  recriminations  of  the  Democratic 
factions  helped  to  confirm  the  suspicion  that  the  bill  was 
by  no  means  a  true  reflection  of  a  majority  sentiment,  but 
a  mere  measure  of  expediency,  framed,  or  rather  adopted, 
on  the  principle  that  something  must  be  done  rather  than 
nothing  ;  and  further,  that  the  schedules  over  which  differ- 
ences were  most  irreconcilable  and  bitter  had  been  dictated 
by  the  trusts  and  syndicates  in  pay  for  past  and  prospective 
favors. 

On  July  i Qth  a  report  of  the  disagreement  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Conference  was  presented  to  the  House.  In  pre- 
senting the  report,  Mr.  Wilson  remarked  that  if  the  Con- 
ferrees  on  the  part  of  the  Senate  had  been  as  free  and 
untrammeled  as  those  of  the  House,  an  agreement  would 
have  been  possible.  He  said  further : — "  There  are  impor- 
tant amendments  proposed  by  the  Senate  which  give  to 


504  THE  WILSON  TARIFF 

this  bill  in  the  main  a  different  character  from  what  it  had 
when  it  went  from  the  House,  on  which  amendments 
we  seem  up  to  this  time  to  be  irreconcilably  divided,  and  it  is 
because  of  these  amendments  and  because  of  the  statements 
made  to  us  in  all  kindness  and  courtesy,  and  I  might 
almost  say  in  sadness,  that  such  was  the  condition  of  affairs 
at  the  other  end  of  this  Capitol,  that  unless  this. House  was 
willing  to  accept  the  Senate  bill  practically  and  substan- 
tially as  it  passed  the  Senate  there  was  to  be  no  tariff  legis- 
lation at  this  session  of  Congress.  We  did  not  feel,  repre- 
senting the  House  of  Representatives,  that  we  could,  with- 
out a  sacrifice  of  its  dignity  and  of  its  equality  as  a  legisla- 
tive chamber,  respond  to  any  such  proposition  as  that. 
Least  of  all  did  we  feel  that  in  the  great  question  of  taxa- 
tion, resting  by  the  very  theory  of  free  institutions  and  by 
the  language  of  the  Constitution  as  a  peculiar  and  original 
trust  on  the  representatives  of  the  people,  that  we  could  for 
one  moment  entertain  and  agree  to  such  a  proposition. 

"  Aside  from  that  question,  the  differences  between  the 
bill  as  it  passed  the  House  and  the  bill  as  it  comes  back  to 
us  from  the  Senate,  are  so  marked,  are  in  the  main  so 
objectionable  to  the  tariff  reformers  in  the  country  generally, 
that  we  could  not,  without  the  guidance  and  the  instruction 
of  this  House,  agree  to  accept  those  differences  and  thus 
adopt  a  different  and  modified  scheme  of  tariff  reform.  .  .  . 

"  It  remains  for  me  simply  to  add,  that  the  chief  points  in 
controversy  between  the  Representatives  of  the  dominant 
party  in  the  two  Houses  and  thus  between  the  conference 
committees  of  the  two  Houses  was,  first,  the  sugar  sched- 
ule ;  next,  the  duty  upon  iron  ore  and  upon  coal,  and  the 
duty  upon  silver-lead  ores  and  some  of  the  duties  in  the 
woollen  schedule,  and  especially  to  some  of  the  duties  of 
the  iron  and  steel  schedule,  prominently  those  upon 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  505 

pig-iron,  upon  steel  rails,  and  upon  cutlery  and  structural 
iron.  But  the  great  difficulty  in  the  pathway  of  an 
agreement  has  been  a  proper  adjustment  of  the  sugar 
schedule.  This  House  voted  for  free  sugar,  raw  and 
refined.  It  voted  down  the  proposal  of  the  Committee  on 
Ways  and  Means  for  a  gradual  repeal  of  the  bounty  and  a 
1  reduction  by  one-half  of  the  duty  upon  refined  sugar.  The 
Senate  has  reintroduced  into  the  proposed  tariff  bill  a 
sugar  schedule  which,  whether  truly  or  not,  has  been 
accepted  by  the  country,  by  the  press,  by  the  people  as 
unduly  favorable  to  the  great  Sugar  Trust.  It  proposes  a 
duty  of  40  per  cent,  ad  valorem  on  all  grades  of  sugar,  a 
differential  of  one-eighth  of  a  cent  upon  refined  sugar,  in 
addition  to  a  differential  of  one-tenth  of  a  cent  on  sugar 
imported  from  countries  that  pay  an  export  bounty  upon 
their  sugar.  There  is  reasonable  ground  for  difference  of 
opinion  among  Democrats  as  to  whether  any  duty  upon 
sugar  should  be  placed  in  our  tariff  bill  or  not.  It  has 
always  been  contended  by  those  who  have  been  leaders  in 
the  great  tariff  reform  movement  in  this  country,  that  of  all 
the  articles  yielding  large  revenue  sugar  was  the  one  article 
upon  which  an  ideal  Democratic  revenue  tax  could  be 

placed 

"  If  it  be  true,  as  stated  by  the  gentleman  from  Ohio 
(Mr.  Johnson) — of  which  I  have  seen  myself  some  affirma- 
tions in  the  press — if  it  be  true  that  the  great  American 
Sugar  Trust  has  grown  so  strong  and  powerful  that  it  says 
that  no  tariff  bill  can  pass  the  American  Congress  in  which 
its  interests  are  not  adequately  guarded ;  if,  I  say,  that  be 
true,  I  hope  this  House  will  never  consent  to  adjourn- 
ment. I  hope,  whatever  the  result  of  the  general  tariff  bill 
is,  that  this  House  will  not  consent  to  an  adjournment  until 
it  has  passed  a  single  bill  putting  refined  sugar  on  the  free 


506  THE  WIIvSON  TARIFF  BIIJ,. 

list."  In  conclusion,  Mr.  Wilson  delivered  a  glowing  trib- 
ute to  President  Cleveland,  and  then  astonished  the  House 
by  reading  a  letter  from  him,  written  as  early  as  July  2d, 
1894,  and  before  the  passage  of  the  tariff  bill  in  the  Senate. 
The  letter  was  addressed  to  Mr.  Wilson,  and  had  been  in 
his  private  keeping  for  some  time.  It  was  made  public 
with  Mr.  Cleveland's  consent.  It  was  so  remarkable  in 
itself,  and  led  to  such  serious  consequences,  that  it  came  to 
be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  momentous  chapters  in  the 
history  of  the  Wilson  Tariff  Bill,  if  not  one  of  the  boldest 
of  Executive  attempts  to  influence  legislation.  It  read  : — 

"  My  Dear  Sir : — The  certainty  that  a  conference  will  be 
ordered  between  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  for  the  pur- 
pose of  adjusting  differences  on  the  subject  of  tariff  legisla- 
tion makes  it  also  certain  that  you  will  be  again  called  on 
to  do  hard  service  in  the  cause  of  tariff  reform. 

"  My  public  life  has  been  so  closely  related  to  the  sub- 
ject, I  have  so  longed  for  its  accomplishment  and  I  have  so 
often  promised  its  realization  to  my  fellow  countrymen  as  a 
result  of  their  trust  and  confidence  in  the  Democratic  party 
that  I  hope  no  excuse  is  necessary  for  my  earnest  appeal  to 
you  that  in  this  crisis  you  strenuously  insist  upon  party, 
honesty  and  good  faith  and  a  sturdy  adherence  to  Demo- 
cratic principles.  I  believe  these  are  absolutely  necessary 
conditions  to  the  continuation  of  Democratic  existence. 

"  I  cannot  rid  myself  of  the  feeling  that  this  conference 
will  present  the  best  if  not  the  only  hope  of  true  Demo- 
cracy. Indications  point  to  its  action  as  the  reliance  of 
those  who  desire  the  genuine  fruition  of  Democratic  effort, 
the  fulfilment  of  Democratic  pledges  and  the  redemption 
of  Democratic  promises  to  the  people.  To  reconcile  differ- 
ences in  the  details  comprised  within  the  fixed  and  well-de- 
fined lines  of  principle,  will  not  be  the  sole  talk  of  the  con- 


WILSON  TARIFF  Bltt.  507 

ference ;  but,  as  it  seems  to  me,  its  members  will  also  have 
in  charge  the  question  whether  Democratic  principles 
themselves  are  to  be  saved  or  abandoned. 

"  There  is  no  excuse  for  mistaking  or  misapprehending 
the  feeling  and  the  temper  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  De- 
mocracy. They  are  downcast  under  the  assertion  that 
their  party  fails  in  ability  to  manage  the  Government,  and 
they  are  apprehensive  that  efforts  to  bring  about  tariff  re- 
form may  fail;  but  they  are  much  more  downcast  and 
apprehensive  in  their  fears  that  Democratic  principle  may 
be  surrendered. 

"  In  these  circumstances  they  cannot  do  otherwise  than 
to  look  with  confidence  to  you  and  those  who  with  you 
have  patriotically  and  sincerely  championed  the  cause  of 
tariff  reform  within  Democratic  lines  and  guided  by  Demo- 
cratic principles.  This  action  is  vastly  augmented  by  the  ac- 
tion, under  your  leadership,  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
upon  the  bill  now  pending. 

"  Every  true  Democratic  and  every  sincere  tariff  reformer 
knows  that  this  bill  in  its  present  form  and  as  it  will  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  conference  falls  short  of  the  consummation 
for  which  we  have  long  labored,  for  which  we  have  suffered 
defeat  without  discouragement ;  which  in  its  anticipation 
gave  us  a  rallying  cry  in  our  day  of  triumph,  and  which  in 
its  promise  of  accomplishment  is  so  interwoven  with  Demo- 
cratic pledges  and  Democratic  success  that  our  abandon- 
ment of  the  cause  of  the  principles  upon  which  it  rests 
means  party  perfidy  and  party  dishonor. 

"  One  topic  will  be  submitted  to  the  conference  which 
embodies  Democratic  principle  so  directly  that  it  cannot  be 
compromised.  We  have  in  our  platforms  and  in  every  way 
possible  declared  in  favor  of  free  importation  of  raw  mate- 
rials. We  have  again  and  again  promised  that  this  should 


5o8  THE  WILSON  TARIFF 

be  accorded  to  our  people  and  our  manufacturers  as  soon 
as  the  Democratic  party  was  invested  with  power  to  deter- 
mine the  tariff  policy  of  the  country. 

"  The  party  now  has  that  power.  We  are  as  certain  to- 
day as  we  ever  have  been  of  the  great  benefit  that  would  ac- 
crue to  the  country  from  the  inauguration  of  this  policy,  and 
nothing  has  occurred  to  release  us  from  our  obligation  to 
secure  this  advantage  to  our  people.  It  must  be  admitted 
that  no  tariff  measure  can  accord  with  Democratic  principles 
and  promises  or  bear  a  genuine  Democratic  badge  that  does 
not  provide  for  free  raw  material. 

"  In  these  circumstances  it  may  well  excite  our  wonder 
that  Democrats  are  willing  to  depart  from  this,  the  most 
democratic  of  all  tariff  principles,  and  that  the  most  incon- 
sistent absurdity  of  such  a  proposed  departure  should  be 
emphasized  by  the  suggestion  that  the  wool  of  the  farmer 
be  put  on  the  free  list  and  the  protection  of  tariff  taxation 
be  placed  around  the  iron  ore  and  coal  of  corporations  and 
capitalists.  How  can  we  face  the  people  after  indulging  in 
such  outrageous  discrimination  and  violation  of  principles  ? 

"  It  is  quite  apparent  that  this  question  of  free  raw  mate- 
rial does  not  admit  of  adjustment  on  middle  ground,  since 
their  subjection  to  any  rate  of  tariff  taxation,  great  or 
small,  is  alike  violative  of  Democratic  principle  and  Demo- 
cratic good  faith. 

"  I  hope  that  you  will  not  consider  it  intrusive  if  I  say 
something  in  relation  to  another  subject  which  can  hardly 
fail  to  be  troublesome  to  the  conference.  I  refer  to  the  ad- 
justment of  tariff  taxation  on  sugar. 

"  Under  our  party  platform  and  in  accordance  with  our 
declared  party  purposes,  sugar  is  a  legitimate  and  logical 
article  of  revenue  taxation.  Unfortunately,  however,  inci- 
dents have  accompanied  certain  stages  of  the  legislation, 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BIU,.  509 

which  will  be  submitted  to  the  conference,  that  have  aroused 
in  connection  with  this  subject  a  natural  Democratic  ani- 
mosity to  the  methods  and  manipulations  of  trusts  and 
combinations.  I  confess  to  sharing  in  this  feeling;  and 
yet,  it  seems  to  me,  we  ought,  if  possible,  to  sufficiently 
free  ourselves  from  prejudice  to  enable  us  coolly  to  weigh 
the  considerations  which,  in  formulating  tariff  legislation, 
ought  to  guide  our  treatment  of  sugar  as  a  taxable  article. 

"  While  no  tenderness  should  be  entertained  for  trusts, 
and  while  I  am  decidedly  opposed  to  granting  them  under 
the  guise  of  tariff  taxation  any  opportunity  to  further  their 
particular  methods,  I  suggest  that  we  ought  not  to  be  driven 
away  from  the  Democratic  principle  and  policy  which  lead 
to  the  taxation  of  sugar  by  the  fear,  quite  likely  exagger- 
ated, that  in  carrying  out  this  principle  and  policy  we  may 
indirectly  and  inordinately  encourage  a  combination  of 
sugar-refining  interests.  I  know  that  in  present  conditions 
this  is  a  delicate  subject,  and  I  appreciate  the  depth  and 
strength  of  the  feeling  which  its  treatment  has  aroused. 

"  I  do  not  believe  we  should  do  evil  that  good  may 
come ;  but  it  seems  to  me  that  we  should  not  forget  that 
our  aim  is  the  completion  of  a  tariff  bill,  and  that  in  taxing 
sugar  for  proper  purposes  and  within  reasonable  bounds, 
whatever  else  may  be  said  of  our  action,  we  are  in  no  dan- 
ger of  running  counter  to  Democratic  principle.  With  all 
there  is  at  stake,  there  must  be  in  the  treatment  of  this  ar- 
ticle some  ground  upon  which  we  are  all  willing  to  stand, 
where  toleration  and  conciliation  may  be  allowed  to  solve 
the  problem  without  demanding  the  entire  surrender  of 
fixed  and  conscientious  convictions. 

"  I  ought  not  to  prolong  this  letter.  If  what  I  have  writ- 
ten is  unwelcome,  I  beg  you  to  believe  in  my  good  inten- 
tions. 


5io  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL. 

"  In  the  conclusions  of  conference  touching  the  numerous 
items  which  will  be  considered  the  people  are  not  afraid 
that  their  interests  will  be  neglected.  They  know  that  the 
general  result,  so  far  as  they  are  concerned,  will  be  to  place 
home  necessaries  and  comforts  more  easily  within  their 
reach  and  to  insure  better  and  surer  compensation  to  those 
who  toil. 

"  We  all  know  that  a  tariff  law  covering  all  the  varied 
interests  and  conditions  of  a  country  as  vast  as  ours  must, 
of  necessity,  be  largely  the  result  of  honorable  adjustment  . 
and  compromise. 

"  I  expect  very  few  of  us  can  say,  when  our  measure  is 
perfected,  that  all  its  features  are  entirely  as  we  would  pre- 
fer. You  know  how  much  I  deprecated  the  incorporation 
in  the  proposed  bill  of  the  income  feature.  In  matters  of 
this  kind,  however,  which  do  not  violate  a  fixed  and  rec- 
ognized Democratic  doctrine,  we  are  willing  to  defer  to 
the  judgment  of  a  majority  of  our  Democratic  brethren. 
I  think  there  is  a  general  agreement  that  this  is  party 
duty. 

"  This  is  more  palpably  apparent  when  we  realize  that 
the  business  of  our  country  timidly  stands  and  watches  for 
the  result  of  our  efforts  to  perfect  tariff  legislation,  that  a 
quick  and  certain  return  of  prosperity  waits  upon  a  wise 
adjustment,  and  that  a  confiding  people  still  trust  in  our 
hands  their  prosperity  and  well-being. 

"  The  Democracy  of  the  land  plead  most  earnestly  for 
the  speedy  completion  of  the  tariff  legislation  which  their 
representatives  have  undertaken ;  but  they  demand  not  less 
earnestly  that  no  stress  of  necessity  shall  tempt  those  who 
trust  to  the  abandonment  of  the  Democratic  principle. 
"  Yours  very  truly, 

"  GROVER  CLEVELAND." 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  511 

This  letter  gave  rise  to  a  variety  of  comment,  most  of 
which  was  hostile.  It  threw  the  warmest  friends  of  the 
Wilson  Bill  into  panic,  through  fear  that  it  would  widen 
the  breach  between  the  two  Houses  and  thus  defeat  its 
object,  or  the  passage  of  any  tariff  measure  at  all.  Repub- 
licans and  most  constitutional  lawyers  regarded  it  as 
effrontery,  or  something  worse,  on  the  part  of  the  President. 
Said  Representative  Burrows,  of  Michigan  : — 

"  I  think  it  the  rankest  violation  of  the  privileges  of  the 
House  ever  perpetrated  in  the  history  of  this  Government. 
The  independence  of  the  three  branches  of  our  Government  is 
fundamental.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  pro- 
vides how  the  President  shall  communicate  with  both 
houses.  The  method  employed  to-day  is  not  one  of  them. 
I  have  known  members  of  the  House  to  be  called  to  order 
and  compelled  to  take  their  seats  for  attempting  to  influence 
by  suggesting  the  view  of  the  President  on  the  pending 
matter.  If  that  is  a  breach  of  order,  what  will  be  said  when 
the  President  attempts  to  instruct  a  Conference  Committee 
in  the  midst  of  their  deliberations  to  settle  the  difference 
between  the  two  Houses  ?  " 

But  as  the  letter  was  intended  as  a  blow  at  the  Senators 
of  Democratic  faith,  whose  actions  in  imposing  duties  on 
articles  which  had  been  made  free  in  the  House  bill  were 
characterized  as  "  alike  violative  of  Democratic  principle 
and  Democratic  good  faith,"  it  was  they  who  were  most 
interested  in  the  letter  and  incensed  at  its  contents.  They 
could  not  understand  how  the  President  could  prove  so 
vindictive  and  so  free  to  charge  bad  faith,  when  he  had  been 
consulted  relative  to  the  changes  in  the  Senate  bill  and  had 
given  Senators  to  understand  that  they  had  his  concurrence. 
Some  of  them,  such  as  Senator  Gorman,  of  Maryland,  looked 
upon  the  letter  as  a  personal  drive  at  them,  and  determined 


512  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL. 

to  resent  it  Senator  Hill,  of  New  York,  who  had  all  along 
been  one  of  the  bitterest  opponents  of  the  President,  found 
comfort  in  the  letter,  inasmuch  as  it  suited  his  views  as  to 
the  Democratic  doctrine  of  free  raw  material.  The  Republi- 
cans, after  an  analysis  of  the  letter,  saw  in  it  a  concession 
of  the  President  to  trusts  of  all  kinds — to  the  Susrar  Trust, 

o 

in  his  plea  for  a  duty  on  sugar ;  to  the  Nova  Scotia  Coal 
Syndicate,  in  his  plea  for  free  coal :  and  to  the  Cuban  Iron 
Syndicate,  in  his  plea  for  free  iron  ore.  It  was  quite  clear 
all  round  that  the  President  had  thrown  himself  into  the 
House  scale,  and  that  the  future  of  the  tariff  bill  was  to  be 
an  issue  with  the  Senate. 

Under  the  House  rules,  the  bill  was  referred  back  to  the 
Senate,  where  it  became  the  subject  of  acrimonious  debate, 
not  between  parties,  but  Democratic  factions.  Senator 
Smith,  of  New  Jersey,  boldly  criticised  the  President  for 
violating  the  principles  of  his  party  in  attempting  to  inter- 
fere with  the  prerogative  of  the  legislative  branch  of  the 
Government,  but  declared  that  he  should  never  be  intimi- 
dated by  threats  from  the  President  or  by  the  utterances  of 
his  party  associates  at  the  other  end  of  the  Capitol,  which 
had  been  so  uproariously  applauded.  He  called  attention 
to  the  difference  between  the  situation  in  the  House  and 
the  Senate.  He  reviewed  the  events  in  the  House  which 
culminated  in  the  passing  of  the  bill  with  the  loss  of  seven- 
teen Democratic  votes  in  that  body.  In  the  Senate  all  was 
changed.  Every  Democratic  vote  was  needed  to  pass  a 
bill  if  it  was  to  be  passed  as  a  party  measure,  and  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Finance  Committee  went  heroically  to  work  to 
harmonize  the  differences  existing  in  the  Democratic  side. 
They  had  accomplished  that  purpose,  to  their  everlasting 
credit  be  it  said. 

He  had  been  one  of  those  who  had  stood  out  for  conces- 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  513 

sions  in  the  interests  of  his  constituents.  He  made  no  con- 
cealment of  his  position  then ;  he  made  none  now.  He 
then  proceeded  to  deliver  a  glowing  eulogy  of  the  tariff  bill 
as  it  passed  the  Senate,  which,  unlike  the  House  bill,  he 
declared,  contained  no  menace  to  the  industries  of  the 
country  and  had  not  been  framed  by  men  from  sparsely 
settled  districts,  who  knew  nothing  of  the  great  commercial 
interests  of  the  United  States.  He  asserted  that  the  framers 
of  the  House  bill  and  a  large  portion  of  the  Democratic 
party  were  not  tariff  reformers;  they  were  free  traders. 
Personally,  he  said,  he  believed  in  the  theory  of  free  raw 
materials ;  but  at  a  time  when  miners  were  hardly  able  to 
keep  the  wolf  from  the  door,  on  the  heels  of  the  greatest 
mining  strike  in  the  country's  history,  he  did  not  believe 
that  the  Democratic  party  could  afford  to  run  the  risk  of 
striking  down  this  vast  industry. 

Senator  Vest's  (Mo.)  arraignment  of  the  President  was 
still  more  severe.  He  began  by  reading  from  Mr.  Cleve- 
land's letter  of  acceptance  in  1892,  pronouncing  in  favor  of 
freer  raw  material.  "  Yet  now,"  said  Mr. Vest, "  he  denounced 
freer  raw  materials  as  perfidy  and  dishonor."  He  had  been 
the  President's  friend ;  he  had  defended  him  on  the  floor  of 
the  Senate  when  his  friends  could  have  been  counted  on 
the  fingers  of  one  hand.  Where  did  the  President  get  the 
right  to  dictate  to  Congress — to  denounce  one  branch  of 
Congress  to  the  other? 

Did  he  embody  in  his  single  being  all  the  Democracy, 
all  the  tariff  reform  sentiment  in  this  country  ?  Mr.  Cleve- 
land was  a  big  man.  But  the  Democratic  party  was  greater 
than  any  one  man.  It  had  survived  Jefferson,  Madison, 
Jackson  ;  it  would  survive  Grover  Cleveland.  Under  what 
clause  of  the  Constitution  did  Mr.  Cleveland  get  the  right 

after  a  bill  had  been  sent  to  "full  and  free"  conference 

25 


514  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL. 

between  the  two  Houses  to  make  any  appeal  to  his  party 
friends  to  stand  by  his  individual  views  ? 

But  it  remained  for  Senator  Gorman,  of  Maryland,  to 
rebuke  the  President  in  the  severest  terms  and  at  the  same 
time  present  the  strongest  defence  of  those  Senators  at 
whom  the  President  aimed  in  his  letter.  He  showed  how 
the  representatives  from  the  manufacturing  and  mining 
States  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Maryland,  West  Virginia 
and  Ohio,  had  refused  to  support  the  House  bill,  and  how 
an  adjustment  on  the  basis  of  the  Senate  bill  had  been 
brought  about  by  concessions.  He  said  that  "  in  patriot- 
ism the  Democrats  of  the  Senate  had  gone  to  work  to  save 
the  country  and  keep  their  party  in  power,  when  suddenly 
in  the  midst  of  the  struggle  came  the  President's  letter. 

"  It  was  most  uncalled  for,  the  most  extraordinary,  the  most 
unwise  communication  that  ever  came  from  a  President 
of  the  United  States.  It  placed  this  body  in  a  position 
where  its  members  must  see  to  it  that  the  dignity  and  honor 
of  this  Chamber  must  be  preserved. 

"  It  places  me,"  said  Mr.  Gorman,  "  in  a  position  where 
I  must  tell  the  story  as  it  occurred.  The  limit  of  endurance 
has  been  reached." 

Senator  Gorman  then  went  on  to  detail  the  history  of  the 
tariff  bill  after  it  came  into  the  Senate,  showing  how  Sena- 
tors Jones  and  Vest  had  had  frequent  conferences  with 
Secretary  Carlisle  and  the  President  during  the  progress  of 
the  work ;  how  Secretary  Carlisle  had  endorsed  the  com- 
pleted bill ;  how  no  one  who  had  been  consulted  ever  sug- 
gested that  the  bill  was  in  violation  of  Democratic  princi- 
ples. Mr.  Gorman  called  on  Senators  Vest,  Jones  and 
Harris  to  substantiate  the  truth  of  what  he  said,  and  each 
of  them  arose  in  his  place  and  did  so. 

After  this  dramatic  vindication,  Senator  Gorman  again 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  515 

denounced  the  President  in  unmeasured  terms,  saying  that 
never,  since  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  had  a  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States  been  guilty  of  such  a  violation 
of  the  Constitution.  He  read  from  Washington's  farewell 
address  the  paragraphs  relating  to  the  encroachments  of  the 
Executive  on  the  powers  of  Congress  as  subversive  of  the 
principles  of  the  Republic.  "  Conference  Committees,"  he 
said,  "  should  be  free  from  all  outside  influences.  The 
liberty  of  the  Senate  should  not  be  invaded  though  a  thou- 
sand hirelings  write  us  down  and  traduce  us."  He  then 
arraigned  the  House  for  not  coming  to  the  Senate  with 
clean  hands.  The  House  had  repeated  the  cry  of  the  Pres- 
ident for  free  coal,  free  iron,  and  free  raw  materials :  yet  it 
had  acted  with  inconsistency  in  placing  other  free  raw 
materials  on  the  dutiable  list.  He  denied  that  it  was  either 
Democratic  doctrine  or  in  accordance  with  the  Democratic 
platform  to  place  coal  and  iron  on  the  free  list.  The  plat- 
form of  1884  did  not  demand  free  raw  materials. 

The  Mills  tariff  bill  placed  a  duty  of  seventy-five  per  cent, 
on  coal.  In  the  Convention  of  1888,  a  resolution  was 
adopted  indorsing  the  Mills  Bill.  Mr.  Cleveland  accepted 
it  and  stood  on  it.  In  the  Convention  of  1892,  Mr.  Cleve- 
land's friends  prepared  a  resolution  commending  the  House 
for  going  in  the  direction  of  free  raw  materials.  But  the 
radicals  prepared  and  carried  a  counter  resolution,  such  as 
appeared  in  the  platform,  designed  to  defeat  Mr.  Cleve- 
land's nomination.  It  failed  of  its  aim.  The  President 
carefully  scanned  that  platform,  and  felt,  as  did  all  his 
friends,  that  its  extreme  utterances  on  the  tariff  would  jeop- 
ardize his  election.  "To  my  personal  knowledge,"  said 
Mr.  Gorman,  "  after  a  conference  of  Mr.  Cleveland  with  his 
friends,  he  deliberately  and  wisely  said,  in  the  line  of  all 
precedents  and  of  all  the  declarations  he  had  made,  of  all 


516  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL. 

the  declarations  that  his  party  had  ever  made,  in  the  exact  line 
of  all  legislation  from  Jefferson  down  to  Grover  Cleveland 
in  1884,  'We  will  not  destroy  any  industry;  we  will 
remodel  the  tariff;  we  will  give  lower  duties ;  we  will  even 
the  burdens  on  the  people,  and  we  will  give  freer  raw  ma- 
terials, not  free  raw  materials.'  There  it  stood.  As  I  have 
said  once  before  in  the  Senate,  but  for  that  declaration  I  do 
not  believe  that  Mr.  Cleveland  could  have  carried  the 
country  and  been  elected  President  of  the  United  States." 

Mr.  Gorman  then  defended  the  duty  on  coal,  as  imposed 
in  the  Senate  bill,  because  of  its  revenue  features,  and 
because  free  coal  would  not  benefit  a  single  man  or  woman 
in  the  country,  but  would  give  to  a  single  corporation  con- 
trol of  the  entire  coal  trade  from  Boston  northward.  But 
one  great  concern  wanted  free  coal,  and  that  was  the  coal 
syndicate  which  had  bought  up  and  consolidated  the  leases 
of  the  Nova  Scotia  mines,  designing  to  enrich  the  treasury 
of  Canada  by  a  royalty  of  12^  cents  a  ton,  and  themselves 
by  displacing  the  coal  trade  of  the  United  States  in  New 
England.  If  they  enriched  themselves,  they  ought  not  to 
do  it  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States  Treasury.  "  God 
knows,"  said  he,  "  we  have  enough  trusts.  I  will  never 
allow  this  mammoth  foreign  corporation  to  invade  our  terri- 
tory and  take  the  subsistence  away  from  our  people." 

Senator  Gorman  then  referred  to  the  sugar  schedule  of 
the  bill,  and  showed  how  necessary  it  had  been  to  fix  the 
rates  as  found  therein,  in  order  to  hold  the  majority  in  the 
Senate  and  §ecure  the  passage  of  the  bill  there.  He  said 
that  on  the  eve  of  the  campaign  of  1892  the  Louisiana 
Senators  were  anxious  to  know  what  the  policy  of  the  party 
would  be  under  the  radical  plank  in  the  Chicago  platform. 
They  had  been  told  by  Mr.  Cleveland  personally,  practi- 
cally what  was  afterwards  published  in  his  letter  of  accept- 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BIU,.  517 

ance,  that  the  Democratic  party  was  not  to  destroy  indus- 
tries, that  it  would  place  a  fair  revenue  duty  on  dutiable 
articles,  and  that  it  would  act  along  the  lines  of  the  Mills 
Bill.  He,  Gorman,  Brice,  Smith  and  other  Senators  and 
leaders  had  given  their  time,  talent  and  money  to  the  cam- 
paign, with  this  understanding,  and  with  the  further  under- 
standing that  sugar  was  a  properly  dutiable  article.  The 
Louisiana  Senators  were  given  to  understand  this  by  the 
Democratic  organization.  "  Yes,"  was  the  answer  to  them, 
"  it  is  a  dutiable  article ;  it  is  to  be,  and  must  be  the  corner- 
stone by  which  we  will  overthrow  McKinleyism.  You 
shall  have  it."  Continuing,  Mr.  Gorman  said :  "  In  all  my 
public  career,  no  man  ever  charged  me  with  perfidy.  No 
soul  can  say  that  I  ever  made  a  promise  about  public  or 
private  matters  that  I  did  not  carry  out  if  I  had  the  power  to 
do  it.  These  two  Senators  and  myself,  carrying  out  the 
pledge  of  our  party,  whose  candidate  was  indorsed  by  us, 
have  stood  here  and  been  gibbeted  as  three  men  who  were 
in  a  sugar  trust.  It  is  due,  sir,  to  those  with  whom  I  am 
associated  to  say  that  no  man  here  would  believe  such  a 
thing,  but  it  is  due  to  the  man  who  writes  the  history  that 
he  shall  have  the  truth  of  the  transaction. 

"  The  conferrees  in  this  matter  on  the  part  of  the  Senate 
have  a  great  duty  to  perform.  There  are  almost  irrecon- 
cilable differences.  But  I  want  them  to  say  to  the  confer- 
rees on  the  other  side,  '  Now,  above  all  other  times,  gentle- 
men, the  law  must  be  observed.  Harmony  can  only  be 
had  by  standing  by  the  letter  of  the  law.  You,  who  make 
laws  with  us,  must  not  violate  them.  There  is  in  this  case 
the  written  and  unwritten  law  to  which  there  is  no  excep- 
tion, and  that  is,  that  when  one  house  proposes  to  change 
an  existing  statute  and  the  other  refuses  to  go  so  far,  the 
House  making  the  radical  demand  shall  give  way.  That  is 


5i8  THE  WILSON  TARIFF 

the  law.  That  is  the  custom.  Whenever  it  is  insisted  upon, 
there  is  no  escape  from  it  if  you  intend  to  have  legislation. 

"  You  can  say,  Mr.  Chairman  (addressing  Senator  Voor- 
hees),  that  in  this  body  now,  where  we  have  only  one 
majority  among  the  Democrats,  that  the  great  State  of 
Ohio,  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  the  State  of  New  York 
and  the  States  of  Louisiana  and  Maryland,  step  out  to  the 
front  and  tell  the  public  frankly  what  ought  to  have  been 
told  only  in  private,  and  to  say  that  within  the  borders  of 
the  States  I  have  named,  while  they  number  only  five  or 
six,  there  is  more  manufacturing  industry  than  in  all  the 
States  which  demand  this  radical  change.  Say  to  them  that 
at  this  time,  when  the  whole  world  is  ablaze  with  revolution 
in  industrial  affairs,  and  want  and  distress  are  felt,  these 
Senators  have  said  to  you  they  cannot  go  further ;  they 
prefer  to  make  a  mistake  for  too  high  rates  rather  than  to 
have  them  too  low ;  that  it  is  wise  statemanship,  true 
patriotism  to  make  the  mistake  and  make  the  tax  too  high 
and  let  these  laboring  people  go  to  work,  rather  than  to 
make  it  too  low  and  then  try  to  keep  them  all  in  order,  too, 
with  deputy  marshals  and  soldiers." 

Senator  Gorman's  denunciation  arid  defiance  of  the  Pres- 
ident caused  great  excitement  in  theJSenate  and  made  a 
deep  impression  on  his  party  and  the  public.  It  turned 
the  indictment  of  the  Senate,  contained  in  the  President's 
letter,  into  an  indictment  of  the  Executive.  If  there  had 
been  deceit  anywhere,  it  was  with  the  President  and  not 
with  the  Senate.  Of  course  Mr.  Cleveland  was  defended 
by  his  friends  in. the  Senate,  but  they  could  not  break  the 
force  of  Mr.  Gorman's  attack.  The  gage  of  battle  was 
down,  and  there  could  be  no  surrender  with  honor,  till  Time 
came  with  her  balm  for  the  wounds  and  bruises  of  the 
fierce  conflict. 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  Bitt.  519 

The  Democratic  majority  in  the  Senate  was  now  in  such 
an  interminable  wrangle  that  it  was  forced  to  the  expedient 
of  calling  a  caucus  to  map  a  course  for  the  future.  The 
caucus  met  on  July  24th,  and,  after  a  two  days'  session 
decided  to  send  the  tariff  bill  back  to  the  Conference  Com- 
mittee without  instructions  to  the  Conferrees,  the  prevalent 
feeling  being  that  no  greater  calamity  could  befall  the  party 
than  to  fail  to  pass  any  tariff  bill  at  all.  It  took  several 
days  to  secure  the  sanction  of  the  Senate  to  the  caucus 
decision,  so  close  was  the  vote  in  that  body,  and  so  fearful 
were  the  majority  of  any  test  not  made  wholly  under  their 
auspices.  But  on  July  2/th  the  resolution  of  reference 
passed,  by  the  slimmest  of  majorities,  and  the  Senate  was 
happily  rid  a  second  time  of  the  load  that  had  been  long 
worrying  it,  and  that  had  grown  heavier  with  each  day's 
carrying. 

Again,  in  the  conference,  the  situation  was,  at  first,  the 
same  as  before.  The  Senate  Democratic  Conferrees  were 
not  prepared  to  make  concessions.  Mr.  Wilson,  on  the  part 
of  the  House,  was  as  emphatic  as  before  in  his  opposition 
to  the  Senate  bill.  Under  these  unfavorable  auspices,  the 
conferences  were  brief  and  uninteresting  for  a  time,  though 
the  impression  daily  grew  that,  with  the  help  of  the  Presi- 
dent, who  seemed  to  be  now  entire  master  of  the  House  situa- 
tion, early  and  important  revelations  might  be  expected. 

Pending  the  conference  discussions,  the  Senate  Commit- 
tee appointed  to  investigate  the  charges  of  Senatorial  col- 
lusion with  the  Sugar  Trust,  made  a  report  which  exoner- 
ated all  Senators  from  the  odium  of  speculating  improperly 
in  sugar  stocks,  and  cleared  the  Senate  itself  of  the  charge 
of  legislating  to  suit  the  interests  of  the  Sugar  Trust,  in 
consideration  of  money  advanced  for  campaign  purposes. 
There  was  a  minority  report  to  the  effect  that  the  evidence 


520  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL. 

showed  that  the  Sugar  Trust  had  made  campaign  contri- 
butions for  corrupt  purposes,  and  that  it  had  secured  the 
very  legislation  it  desired.  But  the  whole  investigation 
had  been  so  partial,  not  to  say  farcical,  and  the  conclusions 
reached  were  at  such  odds  with  the  testimony  as  published 
from  time  to  time,  that  the  report  was  classed  by  friend 
and  foe  among  those  evasive  and  mysterious  efforts  which 
have  come,  in  political  parlance,  to  be  designated  as 
"  white-washing." 

The  Conference  Committee  on  the  tariff  bill  held  almost 
daily  sessions  with  little  show  of  agreement  till  August  6th, 
when  the  Democratic  members  of  the  House,  in  a  disap- 
pointed and  disgruntled  mood,  resolved  to  call  a  Caucus,  as 
the  Senate  had  previously  done,  to  agree  upon  and  force  a 
line  of  procedure  which  would  end  the  dead-lock  and  even- 
tuate in  a  bill  satisfactory  to  both  Houses,  or  rather,  one 
which  could  be  passed  in  both.  Though  this  Caucus  had 
not  the  sympathy  of  such  leaders  as  Mr.  Wilson  and 
Speaker  Crisp,  it  was,  nevertheless,  attended  by  166  of  the 
Democratic  members,  many  of  whom  were  very  determined 
to  shape  matters  so  as  to  bring  about  an  early  result.  But 
by  means  of  conciliatory  speeches  and  promises  of  an  early 
agreement  by  the  Conferees,  the  Caucus  was  induced  to  stay 
hasty  and  positive  action,  and  the  resolutions  that  had  been 
prepared  were  not  passed.  Mr.  Wilson's  position  in  the 
Caucus  was  that  a  crucial  point  in  the  negotiations  of  the 
Conferees  had  been  reached,  and  at  this  critical  stage  it 
would  be  very  unfortunate  for  the  Caucus  to  start  any  move- 
ments which  looked  like  interference  with  the  duty  of  the 
Conferees.  He  appreciated  the  necessity  of  passing  a  tariff 
bill,  and  believed  that  ample  time  should  be  taken  to  ac- 
complish that  result.  He  feared  that  any  such  action  as 
the  House  Caucus  proposed  would  be  to  cause  the  Senate 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  521 

to  recede  entirely  from  the  Conference.  Speaker  Crisp  re- 
garded the  proposed  action  of  the  Caucus  as  a  "  back-fire  " 
from  its  own  House. 

The  general  effect  of  the  Caucus  was  to  spur  the  Con- 
ferees on  the  part  of  the  Senate  to  sharper  action,  for  it  be- 
came apparent  that  a  motive  existed  on  the  part  of  the 
House  Conferees  to  consume  more  time  than  could  be 
spared,  if  the  Senate  was  to  hold  to  the  points  it  had  gained. 
The  sympathy  of  the  Executive  was  so  decidedly  with  the 
House,  and  the  influence  that  could  be  wielded  was  so 
great,  that  dalliance  on  the  part  of  the  Senate  was  an  invi- 
tation to  defeat  of  its  measure.  Consequently  the  Senate 
Conferees  made  an  overture  to  place  iron  ore  on  the  free 
list.  This  was  met  by  a  counter  proposition  on  the  part  of 
the  House  Conferees  to  put  coal  on  the  free  list.  The 
Senate  Conferees  refused  to  accept  this  proposition,  and 
again  the  Conference  was  as  much  at  sea  as  ever.  Thus 
matters  stood  till  August  loth,  when  the  Conference  broke 
up  without  agreeing  to  meet  in  further  session.  On  the 
llth  the  House  Conferees  met  and  endeavored  to  hold 
another  joint  session  with  those  of  the  Senate,  but  the  latter 
did  not  respond.  There  were  several  methods  of  procedure 
open  to  the  House  Conferees  at  this  critical  juncture,  and 
that  especially,  since  they  were  in  physical  possession  of 
the  bill,  but  the  one  that  seemed  to  be  most  appropriate  and 
forcible  was  to  make  the  surrender  which  seemed  to  be  in- 
evitable, agree  to  pass  the  Senate  bill  as  it  stood,  and  trust 
to  the  future  for  vindication. 

This  action  was,  however,  not  deemed  absolutely  safe  till 
after  an  expression  of  party  opinion  in  a  Caucus  called  for 
the  purpose.  Accordingly  a  call  was  circulated  and  a 
Caucus  called  for  Monday,  August  13.  The  sentiment  of 
the  Caucus  was  that  policy  dictated  the  surrender  of  the 


522  THE  WILSON  TARIFF 

House  to  the  Senate,  and  on  the  same  day  the  House 
passed  the  Senate  bill  without  change,  by  a  vote  of  182 
yeas  to  105  nays,  the  vote  being  a  party  one  with  the  ex- 
ception of  twelve  Democrats  who  voted  in  the  negative. 
At  the  same  time,  and  under  rules  framed  for  the  purpose, 
a  series  of  "  pop-gun  "  bills  were  passed  by  the  House 
which  placed  coal,  iron  ore,  sugar  and  barbed  wire  on  the 
free  list.  This  was  done  as  a  protest  against  the  position 
the  House  had  been  forced  into  by  the  Senate,  and  with  a 
view  to  future  political  effect,  as  no  serious  thought  existed 
anywhere  that  the  Senate  would  consider  such  bills  favor- 
ably; or  even  countenance  the  design  embraced  in  their 
passage  by  the  House. 

The  attitude  thus  assumed  by  the  House  was  regarded 
as  humiliating  in  the  extreme.  None  felt  the  blow  more 
keenly  than  Mr.  Wilson,  the  father  of  the  bill,  who  said,  on 
making  the  motion  of  surrender : 

"  I  do  not  pretend  that  I  am  gratified  at  the  outcome  of 
this  prolonged  controversy.  I  do  not  pretend  that  up  to 
the  very  last  moment  I  had  not  cherished  the  hope  and  the 
faith  that  we  should  reach  another  and  a  better  and  a  more 
satisfactory  conclusion  of  this  conflict  between  the  two 
houses  of  the  American  Congress.  I  had  hoped  and  be- 
lieved until  there  seemed  no  ground  scarcely  for  hope  or 
belief,  that  in  cuch  a  contest  this  House,  backed  by  the 
American  people  and  enthusiastically  sustained  by  the 
Democratic  party,  would  be  able  to  achieve  some  honorable 
compromise  between  the  two  houses,  which  we  could  have 
accepted,  not  from  r.  sense  of  duty,  but  with  a  sense  of  sat- 
isfaction and  a  feeling  that  we  had  responded  to  the  man- 
dates of  the  American  people." 

Speaker  Crisp  and  other  Democrats  took  a  more  optim- 
istic view  of  the  situation  and  strongly  advocated  the  sur- 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  523 

render.  Mr.  Cockran,  of  New  York,  Johnson,  of  Ohio,  and 
other  exponents  of  Democratic  faith,  bitterly  denounced 
the  surrender,  characterized  it  as  inglorious,  and  as  calcu- 
lated to  cause  the  country  to  doubt  the  sincerity  of  Demo- 
cratic convictions  and  the  ability  of  the  party  to  solve  suc- 
cessfully the  economic  problems  it  had  in  hand.  The  Re- 
publicans very  naturally  took  advantage  of  the  opportunity 
afforded  them  to  point  out  Democratic  inconsistency  and 
weakness,  and  they  made  it  the  occasion  for  some  of  their 
most  satirical  and  brilliant  speeches.  President  Cleveland 
came  in  for  a  large  share  of  animadversion  as  well  as  of 
satire  by  those  who  regarded  the  surrender  as  more  that  of 
the  Executive  than  the  House,  and  his  share  in  contributing 
to  it,  by  means  of  his  unwise  letter  to  Mr.  Wilson,  as  larger 
than  that  of  any  other  one  man  or  body  of  men. 

The  remarkable  action  of  the  House,  as  well  as  the  gen- 
eral tenor  of  the  bill,  drew  forth  many  opinions,  and  pro- 
voked the  widest  newspaper  discussion.  Very  few  Democrats 
were  pleased  with  the  result.  Many  expressed  themselves 
for  publication  in  the  bitterest  and  angriest  manner.  Their 
leading  party  papers  could  not  see  how  such  a  consumma- 
tion could  have  been  reached,  after  the  bold  utterances  and 
solemn  pledges  of  the  Chicago  platform  ;  after  the  very  pro- 
nounced views  and  advice  of  President  Cleveland  upon 
tariff  reform ;  after  such  distinct  victories  for  the  party  in 
1890  and  1892;  after  the  shameful  exposures  of  the  opera- 
tions of  the  sugar,  iron  and  coal  trusts,  and  their  dominancy 
in  party  affairs ;  after  the  pointed  letter  of  the  President  set- 
ting forth  the  departure  from  the  Wilson  Bill  as  an  act  of 
"  party  perfidy  and  dishonor ;  "  after  a  year  of  heated  dis- 
cussion and  earnest  effort. 

Said  Speaker  Crisp : — "  All  things  considered,  I  think  the 
programme  decided  upon  to-day  is  the  best  that  could  have 


5*4  THE  WILSON  TARIFF 

been  chosen  under  the  circumstances.  We  did  not  de- 
cide to  take  this  action  until  the  last  moment,  and  stood 
firm  until  the  last  hope  had  vanished." 

Said  Senator  Vilas  : — "  The  bill  is  no  sufficient  perform- 
ance of  Democratic  promises.  It  is  a  reduction  in  the 
duties  in  the  McKinley  law,  but,  I  am  strongly  inclined  to 
think,  only  substituting  another  '  ism '  for  McKinleyism." 

Mr.  Wilson  gave  his  views  of  the  situation  thus : — "  I 
cannot  see  where  we  failed  to  do  anything  we  could  do  to 
bring  about  a  better  result.  When  I  have  done  the  best 
according  to  my  capacity  and  judgment  I  must  fall  back  on 
the  consciousness  of  duty  done.  The  difficulty  which  the 
country  must  recognize  is  that  on  the  tariff  question  we  did 
not  have  a  Democratic  Senate,  and  whatever  has  been 
gained  has  been  wrested  from  a  protection  body.  I  have 
been  willing  to  take  any,  even  the  most  desperate  chances, 
that  gave  the  least  hope  of  success  in  getting  rid  of  the 
most  objectionable  Senate  amendments,  and  would  have 
fought  to  the  4th  of  March  with  any  ground  to  stand  upon 
and  any  following  to  sustain  me.  We  have  been  confronted 
by  a  Senate  with  closed  ranks,  while  we  have  had  divisions 
from  the  beginning  that  have  been  fomented  from  the 
Senate,  and  the  growing  impatience  of  the  members  to  get 
back  to  their  districts  with  anything  that  might  be  called  a 
tariff  reduction  bill  has  made  them  unwilling  to  stay  unless 
promise  could  be  given  of  assured  or  most  probable  victory. 
We  could  not  honestly  give  such  promise,  and  a  man  can- 
not continue  a  battle  with  his  army  ready  and  eager  to 
break  away." 

Republican  sentiment  was  tersely  expressed  by  Repre- 
sentative Burrows  thus : — "  The  Senate  bill  is  a  most  in- 
famous piece  of  legislation  in  that  it  protects  special  indus- 
tries, trusts  and  combines,  but  the  method  of  its  consumma- 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  525 

tion  is  even  more  offensive  and  is  without  a  parallel  in  leg- 
islative history.  The  bill  constitutes  simply  a  mask  behind 
which  the  Democratic  party  attempts  to  conceal  its  real 
purpose  of  free  trade,  that  it  may  deceive  the  people  in  the 
approaching  election." 

And  by  Senator  Aldrich  thus : — "  The  result  is  not  as- 
tonishing. The  House  and  the  President  have  always  been 
confronted  with  the  alternative  of  no  legislation  or  the 
Senate  bill.  This  responsibility  has  always  rested  upon 
them.  The  time  and  the  method  of  the  surrender  to-day 
surprised  me  because  there  was  no  necessity  of  giving  up 
at  this  time.  The  friends  of  the  Administration  and  the 
tariff  reformers  in  the  House  were  stampeded  by  claims  of 
the  Democratic  managers  in  the  Senate.  From  a  political 
standpoint  it  seems  to  me  that  the  Administration  and  the 
House  have  blundered.  The  bill  will  now  go  to  the  country 
with  the  emphatic  denunciation  of  a  majority  of  the  Demo- 
cratic press,  which  has  with  a  unanimity  concurred  in  the 
expression  of  the  President  that  the  measure  was  perfidious 
and  dishonorable.  From  a  practical  standpoint  the  bill,  as 
it  passed  the  Senate,  with  all  its  discriminations  and  inde- 
fensible provisions,  is  preferable  to  the  House  bill." 

What  the  country  needed  most  at  this  juncture,  and  after 
its  long  agony  of  waiting,  was  a  settlement  of  the  tariff 
issue..  This  it  demanded,  not  more  as  a  relief  from  sus- 
pense than  as  a  means  of  needed  recuperation  from  a  period 
of  severe  depression.  All  parties  were  a  unit  on  this  point 
But  the  passage  of  the  Wilson  Tariff  Bill,  or  to  be  more 
exact,  the  Gorman-Brice  Senate  Bill,  did  not  prove  to  be 
such  a  settlement  as  was  promised  and  expected.  It  was  a 
bill  which  had  been  tortured  out  of  original  shape,  and 
twisted  from  original  intent  by  amendments,  substitutes,  and 
counter  influences.  It  had  been  rendered  intricate,  errone- 


526  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL. 

ous,  and  impossible  of  clear  and  speedy  execution.  It  had 
been  emasculated  by  compromises.  The  very  best  that 
could  be  said  of  it  by  its  warmest  friends  was  that  it  was  a 
break  in  on  the  principle  of  protection,  an  entering  wedge, 
an  encouragement  to  further  agitation,  a  successful  skirmish 
preparatory  to  the  greater  battle,  a  presage  of  larger  victory. 
All  of  which,  while  hopeful  for  a  cause,  was  the  opposite 
of  what  the  country  had  been  yearning  for  through  the 
midnight  of  crisis.  There  had  been  no  settlement  of  a  vital 
issue,  but,  instead,  the  prospect  of  further  unsettlement. 

The  curiosities  of  legislation  respecting  the  bill  were  not 
yet  ended.  When  the  House  "  pop-gun  "  bills  were  sent 
to  the  Senate,  they  were  met  there  by  advices  from  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury  to  the  effect  that  any  change  in  the 
sugar  schedule  looking  toward  placing  sugar  on  the  free 
list,  and  the  same  was  said  of  coal  and  iron  ore,  though  they 
were  not  so  important,  would  reduce  the  revenues  of  the 
government  below  its  expenses.  The  Senate  was  glad  to 
accept  this  as  a  justification  of  its  past  action,  and  as  a 
reason  for  paying  no  attention  to  the  House  bills. 

And  now  that  the  whole  question  of  a  tariff  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  President,  much  speculation  arose  as  to  what 
he  would  do  with  the  bill.  His  illness  took  him  away  from 
the  Capital  for  a  time.  This  fact  only  served  to  increase 
the  speculation  and  anxiety.  After  his  favoritism  toward 
the  original  Wilson  Bill,  his  stout  adherence  to  tariff  reform, 
his  hostility  toward  the  Senate  bill,  and  his  denunciation  of 
its  adherents  and  advocates,  the  opinion  was  widespread 
that  he  could  do  nothing  to  save  himself  from  stultification 
and  uphold  his  reputation  for  firmness,  but  veto  the  bill 
outright.  Another  current  of  opinion  viewed  such  action 
as  suicidal  in  a  party  sense,  and  saw  no  duty  ahead  for  the 
Executive  but  to  approve  the  bill.  A  subdued  branch  of 


THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL.  527 

this  sentiment  inclined  toward  that  indefinite  and  shirking 
sanction  found  in  the  permissive  clause  of  the  Constitution, 
making  a  bill  a  law  after  the  lapse  of  ten  days,  both  Houses 
being  in  session.  The  fact  that  the  President  remained  ab- 
solutely non-committal,  added  to  his  absence,  and  the  fur- 
ther fact  that  every  day  the  bill  remained  unsigned  enured 
to  the  enrichment  of  the  sugar  and  whiskey  trusts,  intensi- 
fied the  anxiety  respecting  the  fate  of  the  bill,  and  multi- 
plied probabilities. 

The  President,  after  his  return  to  Washington  in  better 
health,  refused  to  relieve  the  tension.  Both  Houses  agreed 
to  adjourn  on  August  28th,  at  2  p.  M.  The  bill  drifted  into 
a  law  at  midnight  of  August  27th,  without  the  President's 
signature.  The  only  sentiment  he  made  public  respecting 
its  fate  was  in  a  letter,  dated  August  27,  to  Mr.  Catchings, 
of  Miss.,  and  Mr.  Clarke,  of  Ala.,  in  which  he  said  that 
he  felt  the  utmost  disappointment  at  being  denied  the 
privilege  to  sign  such  a  bill  as  he  had  hoped  to  see  passed 
— one  which  embodied  Democratic  ideas  of  tariff  reform. 
He  did  not  claim  to  be  better  than  his  party,  nor  intend 
to  shirk  any  of  its  responsibilities,  but  the  bill  contained 
provisions  not  in  the  line  of  "honest  tariff  reform,"  and  also 
"  inconsistencies  and  crudities  which  ought  not  to  appear  in 
tariff  laws."  He  would  not  separate  himself  from  his  party 
by  a  "veto  of  tariff  legislation  which,  though  disappointing, 
was  still  chargeable  to  Democratic  effort."  Besides,  there 
were  incidents  attending  the  passage  of  the  bill  in  its  latter 
stages  which  made  every  "  sincere  tariff  reformer  unhappy ;  " 
and  which  "  ought  not  to  be  tolerated  in  Democratic  reform 
counsels."  Yet  he  looked  on  the  bill  as  a  "  barrier  against 
the  return  of  mad  protection,"  and  a  "vantage  ground  for 
further  operations  against  protected  monopoly." 

As  the  President  proceeded  in  his  letter  he  grew  more 


528  THE  WILSON  TARIFF  BILL. 

animated  and  caustic,  saying  that  he  took  his  "  place  with 
the  rank  and  file  of  the  Democratic  party,  who  believe  in 
tariff  reform  and  who  know  what  it  is,  who  refused  to  ac- 
cept the  results  embodied  in  this  bill  as  the  close  of  the 
war,  who  are  not  blinded  to  the  fact  that  the  livery  of 
Democratic  tariff  reform  has  been  stolen  and  worn  in  the 
service  of  Republican  protection,  and  who  have  marked  the 
places  where  the  deadly  blight  of  treason  has  blasted  the 
counsels  of  the  brave  in  the  hour  of  their  might.  The 
trusts  and  combinations — the  communism  of  pelf — whose 
machinations  have  prevented  us  from  reaching  the  success 
we  deserved,  should  not  be  forgotten  nor  forgiven.  We 
shall  recover  from  our  astonishment  at  their  exhibition  of 
power,  and  then  if  the  question  is  forced  upon  us  whether 
they  shall  submit  to  the  free  legislative  will  of  the  people's 
representatives  or  shall  dictate  the  laws  which  the  people 
must  obey,  we  will  accept  that  issue  as  one  involving  the 
integrity  and  safety  of-American  institutions." 

The  letter  concluded  with  an  exhortation  to  adhere  to 
the  principle  of  free  raw  material  as  one  cardinal  with 
Democracy,  and  a  censure  on  those  who  refused  to  place 
coal  and  iron  on  the  free  list.  The  letter  met  with  wide 
discussion  and  received  the  severest  criticism  of  the  Presi- 
dent's party  associates,  some  of  whom  denounced  it  as  more 
fatal  to  Democratic  political  prospects  in  the  pending  Con- 
gressional elections  than  his  Wilson  letter  had  proven  to 
the  cause  of  tariff  reform.  They  refused  to  see  in  it  an  ex- 
cuse for  not  signing  the  tariff  bill,  and  looked  upon  the  en- 
tire party  situation  as  far  more  complicated  and  serious 
than  if  the  President  had  signed  the  bill  and  withheld  all 
comment. 


ir  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

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